And they lived happily ever after
by Izaya-sama
Summary: Life isn't a fairytale. Though for the citizens of Tokyo it has become a pure nightmare out of the blue. With creatures hankering for fresh human blood, people driven by panic and survival instincts, relentless countdown and their own fears and concerns haunting their minds, how will Izaya, Shizuo and their friends deal with the new reality? Zombie apocalypse. Full summary inside.
1. Prologue

_Life isn't a fairytale. Though for the citizens of Tokyo it has become a pure nightmare out of the blue. With creatures hankering for fresh human blood, people driven by panic and survival instincts, relentless countdown and their own fears and concerns haunting their minds, how will Izaya, Shizuo and their friends deal with the new reality? Will they be able to survive in the city full of zombies? Will they be able to cooperate? Will they be able to find a bit of happiness within this oppressive situation to keep themselves sane or will they drown in the sea of despair and madness? There's no certainty, no miracles. Just a tiny bit of hope. _

_Author's note:_

_Izaya-sama: Hey my lovely readers. I - or better said we - bring you a new story and I can assure you right from the very beginning that it's going to be a breathtaking experience. I'm working on this story together with my beloved rp-partner and it makes me curious whether you'll be able to tell apart our writing styles or not, hehe. We'll see later, ne~? For now, let us take you on amazing journey right into the center of apocalyptic Tokyo. Ready to kill off a zombie or two with us? You better should be~ Enjoy._

_Shizuo-sama: Hello there~ As you may or may not heard, I am Izaya-sama's co-writer as well as RP Partner. This is my first fic..(Which also happens to be a collaboration.) with my lovely Izaya-sama. I've always wanted to write a fanfiction so here I am~ We hope that you guys enjoy reading the story and I'll try to write my best._

* * *

___**Title:** And they lived happily ever after.  
**Rating:** M (gore, adult topics)  
**Pairings:** Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya  
**Disclaimer:** We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...seriously, who would like to do that...except Furuya Chihiro, of course~  
_

___P.S. __If you wonder about the title...I suppose if you don't like cynical black humour, you won't get it anyway. And if that's exactly the kind of humour you like, I suppose there's no need to explain anything. _

* * *

**Prologue. When curiosity kills.**

Everything started as another boring day in the life of Yamakawa Junichi.

As he looked at glass vials one after one, looking for a miracle that he already stopped believing in, he couldn't help but remember those early days when he was a young assistant that got the job of his dreams. The big project in Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, top secret stuff. He couldn't believe his luck, to become a chief in such a big task. He already saw himself being awarded by the Nobel Prize, getting an indelible spot in the history of science after solving a riddle of life. Didn't humans try relentlessly to solve the mystery of eternal life as long as they´ve existed? He´s going to be the one to finally come up with the solution.

But after months and then years of almost zero progress,his enthusiasm slowly withered. He was actually surprised that the organization still financed the research, but who was he to tell his chiefs to give up on this idea? As long as his pay check remained the same, he decided not to give a damn about it. There were much worse jobs out there, and he couldn't complain much when his was a little boring.

As he was practically spacing out, lost in his thoughts, it took him a while to acknowledge the little movement of cells in the dilution of liquid he was just checking under microscope. But when the realization hit him, he gasped.

"No way."

He checked the liquid, again and again. He even took another drop of the chemical dilution just to be absolutely sure about this. But the result was clear. There was a reaction. After six long years of nothing, there was a reaction. A fucking reaction in that little inconspicuous vial. He felt the overwhelming wave of adrenaline spreading through his veins. This was it. This was his time in history to shine. To become even more well-known as Newton, Einstein, Watson and Krick...All the scientists will kneel down in front of him, because he did it. He revived death cells. Cells from a human corpse.A completely dead one. He just successfully concocted a serum to bring the dead back to life.

His mind was totally overwhelmed by the flood of his own thoughts. He felt so excited that he might as well get heart attack right there on the spot. His hands were shaking so much that he was little afraid he's going to simply spill the liquid from the vial all over his desk.

And then, a crazy idea popped in his brain. He should test it out, shouldn't he? What would be better proof than showing all those sceptics out there a resurrected body, which should be dead a long time ago?

He practically didn't think. It just wasn't possible to stay rational for him now. He was too excited, too absorbed in his own little world of delusions about eternal life and eternal fame. Security? He didn't give a damn about it, he was the chief here. He won't let anybody steal his precious research.  
He took a bit of the liquid into injection and practically ran into the morgue. He had to fight with himself not to inject the body which the company received few days ago and see the fruit of his hard work. But he needed documentation. He needed to record this triumphal moment, when humanity cheated death.  
He took a body and drove it to the operation room, where he quickly set everything up. Video, sound, lights. Everything to his satisfaction.

He then promptly injected the corpse with his magic medicine and waited.

A minute passed.

Two.

Three.

Then it came.

There was an almost unnoticeable movement of fingers from the body. Yamakawa was delighted. It worked. It worked!  
He immediately called the other scientists from his team. He wanted them to be amazed by his skills. He wanted to bask in their praising comments and damn, he wanted to open a bottle or two of Champaign and celebrate.

Before his team of scientists had a chance to arrive, he observed his experiment with almost sick interest. He almost collapsed on the spot when he was leaning to the body's face, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes. It was shocking and unexpected and the doctor froze on the spot. The body opened its mouth and cried out. At first it was just a quiet, hissing sound, but soon it turned into a loud and painful scream with almost deafening abilities. Yamakawa made a step back, staring at the man that suddenly sat up on the bed while it was still letting out that crazy sound.

It was almost like a dream. It was surreal. Bizarre.

The doctor watched the scene as if from if he wasn't in his own body, but floating somewhere near the ceiling. Petrified, he just saw the living, dead body grab his own hand with pressure that immediately broke his bones. Yamakawa let out pained cry just in the moment when a bunch of scientists ran into the room. They didn't really know what's going on, but they saw a naked man attacking their chief, so they ran to help him.

Yamakawa was in so much pain from a broken arm that he didn't even register the body pulling him closer. He fell on the bed and right on top of it. The terrifying shriek coming out from dead man's mouth stopped as it began to attack Yamakawa's neck with his mouth wide open.

It didn't really have time to bite deep into his flesh though, just left a little wound on the skin, nothing more than a little scratch from teeth. A drop of the doctor's blood accumulated on his neck, mixed with saliva or whatever it was that came out from corpse's mouth. Suddenly, strong assistants pinned the body down onthe bed before it had the chance to cause more harm to the head of their research. And before they even had a chance to ask what the hell was going on, the body went limp in their arms. It turned back into a corpse as if it wasn't moving just moments ago. As if nothing ever happened.

But for Yamakawa, tears of pain and joy ran down his cheek as he told them about the video footage he managed to tape from the camera set-up. The scientists treated his arm and didn't really pay any attention to his neck, since the wound wasn't even visible when the doctor wiped saliva from there, cleaning that one drop of blood lingering on his skin.

Then they watched the recorded footage. They stared in disbelief. They chatted happily about what it meant. They talked and talked and talked and celebrated till the late night.

Then Yamakawa went home, knowing the next few days are going to be exciting and busy as hell. Maybe he won't go home for a week or two, just working and working in his lab all day. But right now he felt the need to rant about his success to his wife and kids, so he rushed home.

And of course, he didn't know that he killed almost everybody in his team, when he sneezed. The microscopic droplets of his saliva went flying on a few of his colleagues. He didn't know he killed his daughter and son when he kissed them goodnight. He didn't know he also killed his wife when he made love to her that night. And nobody of them knew that they were already dead from that moment.

The next days were going to be very busy indeed, just as Yamakawa predicted. But not completely the way he expected.

Because three days from now on, all hell broke out in Tokyo and nobody saw it coming.

Not even the headless fairy who just parked her bike in front of her and Shinra's apartment after finishing her work for the day, knew that her own cells just caused the breakdown of the metropolis.

Not even the underground doctor, who just made some experiments in his lab and impatiently waiting for his love to come back, knew that his knowledge will be needed as never before in the near future.

Not even the certain blonde in a bartender suit roaming through the streets of Ikebukuro irritated, since some drunken guy just bumped into him and he sent him flying across the street, knew that he just so-so escaped a terrible death.

Not even the sly informant that usually knew everything about everybody, currently spinning in his swivel chair while laughing at the expression of his secretary that she made after his snarky comment about her beloved little brother, knew that his little universe will soon crumble down like a house of cards and he will learn that power is a very fickle thing.

And the Wheel of Fortune just spins and turns, who will survive and who will lose?

* * *

_Thank you for reading. Many thanks for favs and follows and even more thanks for a review. Don't be shy and let us hear your reactions and thoughts about the story *winks*_

_What can you expect in the next chapter? It's going to be Izaya's time to shine. If you want to see what's his opinion about the amazing scientific discovery and just what he plans to do about it, stay tuned~_


	2. Chapter 1

_Author's note: Hey there, lovely readers~ Thanks to Shizu-chan, who proposed that posting shorter chapters often is better than longer chapters less frequently, here's another chapter of our zombie adventure. We changed the structure of the story a little bit too, so you'll see Izaya's and Shizuo's POV in this one. Have fun meeting our main characters~_

* * *

___**Title:** And they lived happily ever after.  
____**Rating:** M (gore, adult topics)  
____**Pairings:** Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya  
____**Disclaimer:** We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...what would we do with them?_

* * *

**Two days before The Day. When downfall is just behind the corner.**

Izaya opened his eyes when soft winter sun tickled his face. He realized it must be pretty late, since the sun shone into his bedroom just a moment before it fell behind the skyscrapers of Japan metropolis on its way to the west. He comfortably stretched on his soft kingsized bed and sighed in pleasure. "Aaah, I feel like I've just been reborn," he chuckled for himself.

Last week he had to put together quite an amount of information for Shiki, so he got almost none sleep at all. He was used to busy lifestyle like that, spending many nights in front of the monitors of his computers. But this time it was a week, seven days in a row without proper rest. He usually didn't like to waste his time by doing nothing in bed, but when he finally handed over the files to yakuza boss, he decided to sleep to his body's heart content. Because even when his mind was spectacular like the one of the god, his body was just the one of pure human being and it obviously needed a good amount of rest. He could tell that according to black bags under his eyes and his skin being even paler than usual. "Almost like a walking corpse," he laughed when he noticed his tired look in the mirror before he went to sleep.

Now, refreshed and full of energy, he made his way to the bathroom and then to the kitchen. He fixed a quick snack for himself before he plopped into swivel chair in his office. He was off almost all day, who knows what kind of interesting info he missed, right?

Izaya hated ignorance. He wanted to know everything. About himself, about his lovely humans, about the world and its secrets... It was just so fascinating to put the little pieces of information together to one big picture. Like some kind of puzzle. He was prepared to solve this gigantic riddle called life. He knew he had mind capacity to do it. His self-confidence never wavered. Like Archimedes once said 'give me but one firm point on which to stand, and I will move the Earth', Izaya found himself the firm point of everything. He was prepared to wrap this small world, this amusing universe, around his little finger and twist the reality just according to his wishes. There was no other way, because otherwise he would be just one of the crowd, not different from other humans. He dismissed idea like that long time ago. He didn't consider himself a mere mortal anymore, he had simply higher ambitions than that.

So after he checked his numerous emails, he moved to his favourite social networks, where he noticed one particular video. Its popularity skyrocketed just in few hours to unbelievable numbers.

"_Human beat death. We found the secret to eternal life._ You're kidding me, right?" Izaya stared at the screen, scoffing. There's no way for someone from his humans to solve the riddle of eternal life before him. _He_ was the one going to reach immortality. He still didn't give up on the plan of waking up dullahan's head and going on his dreamed journey to Valhalla. The universe of gods. The place where he belonged.  
As his eyes flicked through enormous amount of posts and comments, his face was frowning more and more until it reached its final stage of deathly glaring when he checked the contents of the video itself with his own eyes.

He would think, as many others, that it was just some kind of trick, just another stupid amateur video which internet was full of. That is, if the name 'Yagiri Pharmaceuticals' didn't figure in this case. Crazy freaks from that company would be able to invest into ridiculous research like that, he was sure. But what was worse, they could bring such a research to successful end. They owned Celty's head for years, didn't they? Informant was pretty sure that if any strange happening occurred in this city, it always fell back to headless fairy.

He would ask Namie about this of course, if she was there like any other day. But Izaya, knowing that he will take it easy next days, sent her to non-paid holidays for couple of days last evening, enjoying the irritation that crossed her usually composed face. He simply loved to push her buttons, but now he regretted that she's not around. He would immediately interrogate her. Oh well.

Not satisfied with just his gut feeling about this mess, he did what he was the best in. He collected information.

* * *

**Two Days before The Day. When time waits for no man.**

Two days before The Day. 48 hours until all hell breaks loose. Little did the citizens of Ikebukuro knew that their lives will be changed forever.

''Geez..'' Tanaka Tom breathed out a heavy, exasperated sigh as his eyes bore onto the screen of his cellphone he had just fished out from his pockets. Shizuo, who was sitting at the opposite end of him raised his eyebrows in question, wondering why his boss seemed so shaken up all of a sudden. The two had just finished their routine of debt-collecting and was now having lunch at a small café at Ikebukuro. Of course, they finished their jobs earlier than usual today, and when Tom suggested that he'd treat Shizuo to lunch, Shizuo figured that he might as well tag along.

''What's wrong?'' the blonde asked, his gentle eyes half-lidded behind his shaded sunglasses.

''Ah.. Just some stuff happening online.'' Tom replied and pinched the bridge of his nose. The tan skinned man continued to watch the video through his phone with a frown. _The views escalated rapidly and it was an instant hit over the past few hours, _he thought. Shizuo, on the other hand, jabbed a fork into the piece of cake he ordered and held it up to his mouth.

''What kind of stuff?'' he asked curiously, before shoving the cake in his mouth. Despite being someone who has quite the reputation, Shizuo made an effort to stay away from the internet as much as possible. Instead, he counted on Tom for any interesting news lately.

''It's a video. Said they found the key to eternal life or sumthin'..Nasty stuff.'' Tom handed his phone to his partner, urging him to have a look for himself. ''Here.''

Shizuo took the phone, still chewing on the chocolate dessert. He peeked at the video lazily and the title immediatelycaught his attention. Tom was right. It _does_ have something to do with eternal life and its views already reached millions within the first few hours it was posted online. 'Must of became an internet sensation…' he mused, his interests peaking. Shizuo pressed play and the video suddenly played back, starting with a man dressed in a long, white lab coat fumbling with the camera at first. He could hear the noises of him just grabbing and adjusting the camera around clumsily. Once the camera was set up, the scientist navigated back at the well-lit room, where he stood next to a corpse lying on a bed.

He couldn't really see his face, but judging from his quirks and mannerism, the man in the video looked extremely excited. The video progressed smoothly, with said man injecting a corpse as he stepped back, waiting for something to happen. Shizuo's anticipation was just as much as the scientist's, so he stared at the screen, waiting for something to happen.

Seconds passed. Nothing happened.

''Bests part's at the end, let me just skip that…There.'' Tom chuckled and leaned forward , dragging his finger across the bottom of the screen, skipping a minute or two. He then slumped back in his seat and went back onto his lunch, eating a salad nonchalantly.

The video became chaotic within _seconds._It started out so long ; preparation for the corpse, but disaster had consumed everything so fast that Shizuo almost couldn't believe it. It was as if time sped up near the end of that video. He watched closely, mouth slightly agape as the corpse let out a quiet hissing sound, like the air left in his lungs were being forced out. He could barely hear it, but the next thing that happened was that the corpse lurched forward at the scientist, knocking down some surgical trolleys in the didn't become the human it originally was before it died. It became…something else. He's sure it wasn't human.

A pained cry left the scientist's mouth as he was injured severely. The scene became so violent and horrendous in a blink of an eye, and more scientists stormed in the room. Assistants blocked the view of the camera by pinning the animate corpse onto the bed, only his arms and legs were seen as they trashed and turned about. Soon, the body froze and stood still. The screen went black, and then it ended.

''That bad, huh..'' Shizuo mumbled and crossed his brows, skimming at the comments below the video. The comments were updating every second, with new messages poppingout again and again. He frowned as he read through some of them.

'Has science gone too far?'

'This is awesome! ! !'

'Eeek, that was so scary~ ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ'

''Yeah. I'm just surprised at how popular it got. You never know if it's fake or real. Some people are just that twisted..'' The be-spectacled man replied, finishing up the rest of his lunch.

Fame and fortune must of gotten into..whoever it is that uploaded that video's head. Shizuo laughed wryly because it was impossible to cheat death. Even _he_ knew that. Turns out, the video was just another failed experiment. He scoffed, sliding the phone across the table, back to his boss.

''All done?'' Tom asked as he took his phone back, slipping in it his pocket.

''Yeah. Thanks for the meal. ''

''Good job for the day. Work's at the usual time tomorrow, Shizuo. '' And just like that, Tom gave a small wave and stood up, off to pay for their meal. Shizuo nodded. And all he wanted to do now was go home and rest for the rest of the day.

* * *

_If you wonder where are zombies, be patient. There will be loads of them later, enjoy the quiet suspenseful atmosphere for now~ Next time: Shinra and Celty. Probably. And then...then The Day will come_ ヽ( ・ω・)ﾉ


	3. Chapter 2

_Author's note_

_Izaya-sama: Hello, cutie-pies~ Did you impatiently wait for the update? I know you did, so here you go. Shinra's and Celty's POV, as we promised. Have fun._

_Shizuo-sama: This chapter is the result of me doing it in the last minute and I could tell Izaya was getting a little cranky [Izaya's note: No, I didn't *pouts*], so I had to finish it soon. Well here it is, ahaha. Enjoy the chapter._

* * *

**____****Title:** ___And they lived happily ever after._**___  
_____****Rating:** ___M (gore, adult topics)_**___  
_____****Pairings:** ___Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya_**___  
_____****Disclaimer:** ___We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...Well, why not? All the zombies are ours, hahaha! We'll conquer the world with them~_

* * *

**Two days before The Day. When nightmares start to become a reality.**

As far as it went for information about the newest research, Kishitani Shinra had his own resources. Moreover when his beloved dullahan was being involved.

Thanks to one of the assistants working in Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, he kept an eye on the research of immortality from the very beginning. He would very gladly confiscated all the material that those incapable scientists stole from his one and only love, but since he was an undergound doctor, he didn't want to go against the law even more and get himself into jail. Thus robbing into the well protected facility was out of the question and all he could do was gathering the info. Upon seeing the inauspicious results he was content. There was no way this research will bring any fruit and even when experimenting with Celty's cells was infuriating, he stayed in the role of passive observant.

Maybe he could do something to interrupt the research if he really wanted. But since those guys didn't have anything more than few bits of fairy's DNA, his inner scientific side, the one that possessed morbid curiosity, took control over his actions and after all those years of staying in the shadows he was like a secret member of the team. He even uttered advice or two to his acquaintance when he really got overwhelmed by passionate discussion about the research and it was his guilty pleasure to listen how his ideas were put into action. The results were none, but just the idea that he's somehow participating on such an intriguing research, which was completely wrong on so many levels, made his heart beat faster from excitement.

Shinra was really a man of the science to the core. There were just two kinds of love in his world - the one for research and the one for headless dullahan. Sometimes even he wasn't sure which one's bigger, but he was reassured about the answer every time when Celty appeared in his presence. With her around he couldn't focus on anything else and all thoughts about science flew out of the window. Though even when his love for the mystique woman was never-ending, he still kept his little secrets about the research and experiments. It was almost like having an affair - he knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself. The science was just too alluring. And so even when he lived and breathed for dullahan, there was that crazy scientist bit in him, which wouldn't mind to take scalpel and examine the mysteries of her body once again. But his feelings were stronger than this questionable desire. Much stronger. Though he used the secret experiment as some kind of vent for it. What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. Everybody has a one or two dirty secrets in his life.

Shinra didn't believe anything will ever happen to pull out this secret from the shadows. He didn't believe Celty will ever learn about it. He didn't believe it will provide and gratifying result.

So his surprise, when he all of sudden saw the video from the experiment in the news, was immense. And intense.

He was drinking coffee while sitting on couch with Celty, but as that record appeared on the screen of their TV, he choked on the drink and started to cough so much that fairy patted his back in concern. It seemed like she didn't pay attention to TV at all, as she was focused on some work on her phone before, so she missed the news completely.

"N-no worries, my lovely~" He stuttered in his chirpy voice as soon as he was able to speak again. He carefully put the cup on the table next to couch, what was a very wise decision. His hands were trembling to the point that there was high probability of him spilling the hot coffee all over himself.

**[**Are you okay?**]** Fairy showed him the message, concern was obvious from her posture.

Shinra let out his usual nervous laugh and started to chatter as always, as he tried to calm himself.

"But of course~ I was just lost in thoughts about how beautiful you would look in bikini and I forgot I took a sip of coffee. I simply chocked on it. Though that mental image was splendid. Stunning~ Definitely worth a bit of coughing, we should go to the beach and..."

Celty smashed her hand over his mouth to silence him. She was trembling a bit, the black mist above her neck was swirling in crazy spirals. If she had cheeks for blushing, she would be red like a tomato for sure right now.

**[**P-pervert!**]** She shoved her phone into his face, the second after she released him and doctor started to laugh.

"I'm just telling the truth, sweetheart, you should show me more of your beautiful skin which you're hiding under that black costume all the time." He continued in teasing her. She was so cute according to him, especially when she was flustered like this.

There was no doubt that there was a good portion of masochist in Shinra, since Celty used to show her embarrassment by something what would fighters for human rights described as a domestic violence. Her specialty was jabs into his ribs or stomach with her elbow, though Shinra always laughed at that as if it was the most adorable act in the world.

**[**Shinra!**]** She showed him again and pulled his cheek as a punishment. Though when doctor's goofy grin didn't waver, she jumped of the couch and rapidly typed. **[**I'm going to work. And you...stop having such weird fantasies!**]** She quickly showed him and then turned on her heel, grabbed her yellow helmet and rushed out of the door.

"Come back quickly, my dearest~" Shinra called before the door closed behind her. "Ah, she's so lovely." He smiled, but as soon as dullahan was away, he grabbed the remote control and looked for a news channel, since the previous one already ended.

After few clicks he found what he wanted. He let the device fall out of his hand on the carpet, when he listened to moderators happily chatting about the shocking information that they received just a few minutes ago.

_"Spokesman for company Yagiri Pharmaceuticals just verified the truthfulness of the video that you could see a moment ago. You can look at it again in our archive. So, Yukiko, what do you think about this awesome progress in human history?"_

_"Ah, it's really unbelievable, isn't it, Ken? Though I have to admit it's a little scary to see. And those sounds give me shivers."_

_"But just think about it, Yukiko. With a few more years of research, we're probably going to be able to postpone the aging process, maybe even stop it for good."_

_"It's like dreams coming true. It is really a big day for all of us..."_

Shinra stopped listening to rant of two moderators as he sprinted to his notebook to check the news there. He could see the video everywhere. People talked about it - happily, skeptically, curiously, angrily...There were many different reactions and opinions about the topic.

Shinra felt his heart sinking deep into pits of his chest. Like this, there was no way that Celty's not going to notice anything.

"They never mentioned where they received material for the research, so I just need to keep that information from her. And after all, it isn't that bad...maybe I'll be able to spend all eternity with her like this?" Bespectacled man tried to reassure himself, but as he watched the video again and again, he couldn't stop goosebumps covering him from head to toe. He fought with a feeling that nothing good will come out of this, telling himself that it's just the result of his remorse, since he really felt guilty about hiding all of this from his dear fairy.

He tried to spark the scientific enthusiasm in him, so he took his phone and called his contact to congratulate him and his team and also to get a bit of information what was going to happen from now on. Where will the research head to from this point and when they expect some progress in it and other important, for ears of poor normal mortal incomprehensible, stuff.

* * *

**Two days before the Day. When distortion is coming to a near.**

Yagiri Pharmaceuticals was known for its human experiments; but ever since they hit the jackpot with the answer to eternal life, their own creation slipped through their fingers and fell flat face-first into the hectic normalcy of Ikebukuro.

Celty tilted her head and tapped her fingers on her chin as she read the conversations in the Dollars chatroom. Apparantly, the forums were bloated with people commenting about Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, with everybody giving out their opinions at how they managed to develop a magic elixir for eternal life. The headless dullahan immediately straightened her back in her chair as she found herself getting engrossed into the topic.

She was sure that she'd done jobs for that company before, and that is that notoriously famous with experiments involving humans, but she didn't think that it was gonna be that famous on the web. The internet was one of her many hobbies, whether she just came home from delivery or simply bored at home..Celty loved internet surfing. She came across lots of interesting recipes to cook for her beloved Shinra and also various amusing information regarding recent happenings around the city.

The night outside the window was still and silent as she tapped away on her keyboard, the only sounds in the room was the constant 'beep' from the PC, indicating that she received another reply from the people in the chatroom. Shinra was already past asleep in his bed when she came home from her job, so a little browsing on the net couldn't hurt. After all, Celty wasn't really tired.

**Bakyura:** Hey.. Did you checked the video out yet? It's all the rage!

**Saika:** Yes. You sent it to me already.

**Taro Tanaka:** I watched it this morning…

**Bakyura: **Setton-san should watch it!

Celty typed out her message on the keyboard swiftly and hit enter, her curiosity kicking in.

**Setton:** What video?

_Bakyura is typing a message…_

**Byakura:** Search 'We found the secret to Eternal Life.'

**Taro Tanaka:** You don't actually believe it, do you?

Celty slumped back on her chair lazily as she did exactly what she was told. She wasted no time in clicking the first video that popped up in the search engine as it loaded, taking her to another website. Her cursor blinked a couple of times when the video on her screen buffered before it suddenly played.

A man in a lab coat. The blinding lights. The ecstasy written on the scientist's face. The dead corpse sitting all alone on the bed in the room. If not really analysed much, the video simply appeared like a normal video of a post-mortem examination. It seemed that it was a hit overnight and even became the topic of every single conversation she came across in the forums. Feeling intrigued, Celty watched the video as a minute or two passed.

The man in the labcoat grinned as he began to set up the lights around the room after he just finished setting up the camera, busy adjusting the position of the reflectors as if it was crucial for the video. He wiped his forehead and headed towards a tray, where there were different kinds of empty and full syringes laying next to vials, test tubes full of god-knows-what.

Celty felt a wave of nausea wash over her body as the scientist grabbed a syringe, injecting the dead body with some kind of serum. She couldn't really see it since the quality of the video was a little blurry. The scientist stepped back a little and rubbed his hands together. He couldn't wait to see the result.

Nothing.

Celty was starting to second-guess the video. The man just stood there and waited there, nervously biting his nails as he looked dead-straight at the dead body. But nothing was happening. And if she had a head, she would be rolling her eyes right now. After waiting for a good minute or so, she moved her mouse to close the tab.

But before she could click the 'X' at the top of the window, the body was already standing up as soon as she averted her eyes back at the video. They switched positions; the animate corpse was now the one pinning the scientist on the bed. It sank its sharp canines into his pale neck and hissed, while the scientist howled in pain.

Someone laughed wickedly in the background and before she knew it, a bunch of men in lab coats came rushing in the scene, holding the corpse back with their strong arms. Grunts and shouts like the ones on martial-arts programmes were heard in the video as the corpse struggled on the bed, thrashing about to get free. But the scientists and assistants soon over empowered it, and it went limp in their arms. Just like that.

The video went black and then it ended. Celty froze on her seat, only her dark shadows were calmly swayed about from her neck as it faded through a film of smoke. Slowly, she wrapped her hands around herself, her shoulders trembling and shaking. She didn't know what to think.

'Has Shinra seen this video? Maybe I should show it to him in the morning..' She mused.

There was definitely a glint of hope deep down in her heart, because if humanity really did find a way to gain immortality…She didn't have to worry about Shinra, right? She'd live forever with him in Tokyo or maybe go to some place new, a place she's never been before. She'll never have to worry about constantly making new friends or outliving them. Shinra would be together with her. Always.

And then there's the deep, dark side of this research. How can Yagiri Pharmaceuticals develop some kind of special potion to live forever? Sure, they brought a dead back to life. It's just a matter of time before they'll perfect the material and make humanity's dream come true. Celty crossed her legs and thought hard to herself. There has to be something behind their success. It was clear from the start that humans are humans, not a supernatural being like herself. Their armour wasn't made from black lacquer like hers.

Humans live, and they die. End of story. Celty had a bad feeling about this. Most people online were overjoyed, but she felt that things doesn't feel right for her. With every success..comes a heavy price.

As she turned her laptop off, Celty shivered at the how cold it suddenly got in the Winter night. She made her way to her room, feeling strangely unsettled.

And the sick feeling stayed with her. That night, she had a rather vivid dream about her head. In her dream, Celty was in the eyes of her detached head, trapped in the confinement of a glass tube in a lab somewhere. She couldn't move or do anything. But she could see someone in a white coat walking towards her and…

Suddenly feeling extremely overwhelmed, the dullahan woke up abruptly in the middle of the night.

'Humans….Humans are scary..' she inwardly told herself. And if she had a head, Celty would be crying at that moment.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, hopefully you enjoyed it~_

_As you've probably noticed already, there are some mistakes or strangely arranged sentences here and there, so I would like to apologize for that. I take all the blame, because Shizu-chan's English is better than mine *snickers* Funny thing. Well, I suppose I stick too much to original structure of my first language, that's why some sentences look weird to native English speakers...I hope it's not too bothersome and that you can enjoy the story nevertheless. I'll try to do what I can to refrain from these mistakes, but be patient with me. Ne~?_

_For making things clear, I write Izaya and Shinra while Shizu-chan writes Shizuo and Celty. The prologue was written by me, with a bit of editing by Shizu-chan._

_Next time: First zombie is coming! Finally~ Wanna guess who'll be the one to meet him? ^^_


	4. Chapter 3

_Author's note: Hey, Izaya-sama speaking~ Just according to_ _BadassNerd__'s guess (congrats~), here comes first of Izaya's chapters. The last one to see the video, the first one to meet a zom-...Well, you better should be prepared, because he's going to have a pretty eventful day._

* * *

******____****Title:** _And they lived happily ever after._******___  
_____****Rating:** ___M (gore, adult topics)_******___  
_____****Pairings: **___Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya_******___  
_____****Disclaimer:** ___We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but what to do with them...Oh, we could make a sale~ Who wanna a zombie or two? All shapes and sizes. Cheap! High quality! Home delivery!_

* * *

**The Day. When all hell breaks loose.**

It was everywhere. In TV. On internet. In the streets. As if any other information didn't exist from the moment, when someone posted _that_ video.

Izaya walked across the streets of Ikebukuro, the city busy even despite the pretty early hour, and he was irritated to no end. All he could hear from people around was something related to_ that_ topic. Everybody enthusiastically ranted how he's going to enjoy eternal life and similar nonsense. Izaya didn't like the idea at all. His humans didn't have a right to live forever. It was only his destiny, how did they dare to think otherwise?

Even when his face remained just the same as usual, he felt anger bubbling inside him. He didn't like the direction the world was heading into. Not at all. He was prepared to do anything to stop this crazy ride into 'and they lived happily ever after'. No matter how much his lovely humans wanted to obtain god-like abilities, he doesn't let them. Purpose of their lives was to entertain him and then die. It was the right order of things. Order that Izaya liked. Order which he wasn't prepared to give up on. He clenched his fists, carefully hidden before any prying eyes in safety of his pockets. One thought stood out among the flood of others for a second as he wondered whether this is what Shizuo feels like most of the time. Anger. Scary emotion for sure.

Informant shook his head and approached a narrow alley, where he was supposed to meet one of his contacts. By a pleasant coincidence that guy worked in Yagiri Pharmaceutical and Izaya was ready to get the most out of it. Luck was always by his side, as it seemed.

He managed to find out that indeed, immortality was one of the secret researches in YP, as he hacked into some of their files. He couldn't find any names, since they just used numbers and codes, but what he was able to deduct was the fact that they somehow modified some special cells obtained from one mystical subject. Izaya was willing to bet his hand on the fact that they got the material from experimenting on Celty.

Well, naturally, the research was supposed to stay top secret, but it seemed like security pretty failed in this case since someone anonymously posted the video from the experiment when they brought a corpse back to life for a moment. The video was actually pretty creepy, especially the sounds, but it couldn't be doubted that they indeed managed to revive a dead body. With a knowledge like that, it could be just a matter of time till they come up with some pills for immortality or something, Izaya pondered.

Since the video became such a hit, the corporation decided to use it to its advantage. They promoted themselves by proclamation, where their scientists shared some obtained data with a public. Smart strategy that made people just more interested in the whole topic. Everybody saw himself as a being living for decades...centuries...maybe even millenniums. Wonderful advertisement, really. Yagiri Pharmaceuticals exclaimed themselves as those who have a patent on eternal life.

Just thinking about it made Izaya sick. He was prepared to get the info out of this guy he was supposed to meet. Where was data of the research, where were Celty's cells stored, who was involved in this research, everything. He will find the way how to destroy it all. And with dullahan's head in his possession, scientists won't have any more material to do their little dirty experiments. Ah, that was the vision that made Izaya's lips curl into his usual smug smirk and he relaxed. He's the master of this situation. Or at least he's going to be, soon. He'll take control over his toys back. Maybe he will vent his frustration over this stupid situation on some interesting individuals later. He already started to prepare plans for these new entertaining games, when the sudden movement in the shady alley put him on alert, his switchblade safely in his hand.

"Ah, it's just you, Kaneda-san~" Izaya smiled his polite working smile upon seeing his contact on his way to him and lowered the hand with the knife, keeping the weapon in it just in case.

As the man came close enough, Izaya's instincts started to scream at him that there's something off. Very off.

The guy didn't seem good at all. He was pale - sickly pale, not attractively smoothly pale as informant himself. His cheeks cavernous to the point that he looked anorexic, dark rings around his eyes and his orbs strangely clouded, reminding Izaya of blindness. His strangely purple lips trembled and his whole look was kinda messy as if he forgot to stop by in the bathroom before he left his apartment. All in all, he looked awfully sick. Though Izaya was pretty sure the guy was very healthy and cheerful - to the point that it was annoying - last night when informant called him to arrange a meeting. Now he looked like the patient in the last stadium of cancer or something like that. Was it normal to deteriorate to this extent because of sickness in one night? Izaya highly doubted that. No matter what the guy had, Izaya didn't want to catch it too.

"Stay where you are, Kaneda-san, ne~? I've happened to have a bad cold lately and I really don't want to infect you." Izaya uttered in friendly tone. He needed the guy for info and he knew better than telling someone he needed that his visage makes him wanna puke just as he looks at him. That really wouldn't be a smart comment.

Though it seemed like the guy wasn't listening at all since he didn't stop walking towards Izaya. Now that was simply unpleasant. Informant took a few steps back, keeping the distance between them as it was and he was trying to figure out what the hell was this guy's problem. He lifted his arm holding a knife and pointed it at the other.

"I told you to stay there, didn't I?"

As if the man now finally acknowledged Izaya's existence, he stopped in his tracks. Izaya watched with dumbfounded fascination as Kaneda's eyes and practically all his face cleared, blinking at informant in awe.

"O-orihara-san?" Was all he was able to tell before his face turned into pained grimace and he clenched his head with his hands, letting out a loud shriek.

Izaya froze on the spot, not having a clue what's just happening in front of his eyes. But whatever it was, it was happening quickly and left the informant stare at the scene speechless, feeling surprise, confusion, disgust and other hardly defined emotions. Normal people would call it fear, but Izaya was too prideful to admit that he was scared.

The shouting man went down to his knees and banged his forehead against the ground. Not once, but repeatedly.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The ground started to colour by red. Fresh wet red. Blood was running down Kaneda's face, though it didn't look like he minded too much as he fell down to the ground, clenching his stomach for a change. The echoing scream just intensified as the man writhed in pain.

"W-what...?" Izaya stuttered, totally petrified. He wouldn't be able to help the guy even if he wanted and he wasn't even very sure that he wanted. What could he do anyway? His instincts were telling him to stay in safe distance and he gladly gave into advice like that.

Though pained cry of the poor guy caught attention of some couple walking around the alley and they came to take a look whether someone didn't need a help. They glanced between man of the ground, Izaya, blood on the ground, Izaya's knife and were about to turn around and fleet out of there, when the crazy scream stopped and Kaneda's body went limp in a small puddle of his own blood. Everybody looked at the body which looked like broken figurine from some horror. The almost tangible atmosphere of terror made it hard even to breathe, the time froze for a second.

"I didn't stab him." Izaya disrupted the eerie silence with his proclamation and put the knife back into safety of his pocket, showing that he doesn't really have any violent intentions.

The other two watched him suspiciously, but the guy seemed rather brave. Not sensing any harming intent coming from Izaya, he quickly knelt down to lying body.

"Hey, mister...I'm a doctor, I'll hel-..." As he checked the man's pulse, he found none. "Ah... seems like he died." He proclaimed matter-of-factly and slowly stood up. The girl, that came with him, quickly buried her face into his shoulder not wanting to see the bloody corpse as she started to sob quietly. It wasn't every day that someone died in front of you, so Izaya wasn't surprised by her reaction at all. He rather turned his attention to the guy, since he looked like more interesting subject to observe.

"Who are you and what happened here?" The supposed doctor asked in calm voice, while he soothingly rubbed back of his girlfriend or whatever was the statute of the woman accompanying him.

"I was supposed to meet with this man and he looked pretty sick when he came. He collapsed and that's when you appeared." Izaya shrugged. It looked like Kaneda's death didn't affect him at all and it was exactly like that. He mourned a bit, true, but simply because he lost a chance to ask him anything, not because the man passed away. Now he has to look for another information source, but it wasn't really such a big problem. The only thing that slightly bothered Izaya was the way the other man died.

"What kind of sickness caused this..." Izaya thought aloud as his eyes curiously shifted down to the corpse. "Don't you know what illness could it be, doctor? The guy practically smashed his own head against the ground while holding it and screaming like crazy. He wasn't a mental case though." He stated casually as if he just asked what time it is and he looked at the couple.

"I have no...oh..." Guy breathed out in surprise when he noticed a sudden movement on the ground. One of Kaneda's arms stretched and caught his ankle.

"No way...He was dead, didn't the doctor tell so? How is it possible that he's mov-...?" Izaya didn't have a time to finish his thought as situation in front of him changed dramatically once again. Frozen on the spot for the second time that day, he almost could see it in a slow-motion, even when the whole attack didn't last more than few seconds.

Dead scientist pulled the guy down just by one tug of his hand and the doctor yelped when he landed on the dirty pavement. Izaya couldn't tell if out of surprise or pain or both. The supposed corpse pulled frightened doctor's leg closer, easily dragging the man across the asphalt. And then...

Kaneda opened his mouth and bit the limb in front of him, hard. His teeth broke through fabric and skin and dipped into muscle easily as a knife into butter. Attacker then jerked his head back, ripping off a big piece of bloody flesh together with strap of trousers. Injured man cried out in pain and he tried to get out of the grip, but to no avail. The dead man, that wasn't all that dead anymore, brought his mouth on doctor's leg again and again, biting it with enthusiasm of a dog eating a bone. The man screamed and begged for help, stretching his arm towards the girl.

She watched the scene completely in shock, but when fingers of her boyfriend brushed against her leg, she shrieked as the reality finally kicked in. Turning on her heel, she ran out of the alley, screaming and crying for help.

Izaya couldn't take his eyes of the scene. It was just so surreal...He had a feeling like this already, he was sure. He tried to clear his mind enough to put together bits of information and he realized that it's just as the damned video, which shook his stable world last days.

As the pieces of puzzle slowly clicked together, Izaya quietly stared as the doctor stopped struggling all of sudden. Just for a moment though. Then he cried out even more, but this time it was interrupted by coughing and Izaya grimaced in disgust as the guy practically coughed out half of the blood contained in his body. His skin was losing its colour by every passed second and his body shook uncontrollably. And as unexpectedly as the spasm came, it also died off. The guy stopped moving completely.

Kaneda on the other hand let go of bloody limb and stood up. His movements were clumsy, as if it was just a puppet on strings led by a very unskilled puppeteer. It was eerie. Izaya could feel shivers running down his spine, giving him a sign to run away. Immediately. Though he couldn't move at all, he just stood there, glancing from the standing body to lying body. To his terror, the guy who told about himself that he's a doctor, started to move too and he stood up in the same clumsy manner as the scientist.

There were two men standing in front of Izaya. They looked awfully similar in the fact that they looked dead. Their eyes were blank, skin pallid. Though both of them were moving, which wasn't really a proper behavior of corpses. Nor were the low grumbling sounds which both of them were emitting. Their groans possessed similar effect as nails scratching across a blackboard, the sound caused goosebumps appearing all over Izaya's body. Both seemed to lack any form of consciousness and their appearance was sickening as blood trickled from one's mouth and other's wounds. It looked like they didn't know what to do, but after a moment they turned their heads towards the entrance of alley and in a strange swinging motion they started to go that way.

In that moment the realization finally hit Izaya with all its cruelty and absurdity. It probably wasn't an appropriate reaction, but he started to laugh. He laughed so much that he had to bend over and catch his stomach.

Two bodies turned their heads his way and then also rest of their bodies as they started to approach the raven informant with arms stretched in front of them. They were trying to catch him, that much was clear.

Izaya stopped laughing as abruptly as he started. He straightened, holding knives in his hands. He was glad that he always had plenty of those on himself. Because now he knew just what was going on and it was amusing and frightening at the same time.

"Eternal life...my ass." He gritted his teeth and threw the knives with all his strength. He aimed for Kaneda's head and doctor's heart. Knives dipped deep into the monsters, destroying Kaneda's brain effectively. Whatever it was, what caused him to come back from afterlife, has disappeared and he fell to the ground, not moving an inch anymore. The other corpse though continued in its walk and Izaya sent another knife flying its way, right into its forehead. "The brain, huh? Just like what a science fiction taught us." He watched the body crumble down to the ground with a quiet sigh of relief.

Izaya has never killed anybody until now. But as he stared at two corpses, he didn't have any regrets. Because the bodies lying on the ground weren't humans anymore. Just mindless shells of something that used to have a soul, trying to devour a flesh and blood of any living human being unfortunate enough to cross their way. Monsters.

"Zombies. They created frickin' zombies!"

Izaya watched the bodies carefully for a second and after he has decided it's safe, he walked to them to take back his knives, disgusting wet sound filling the air three times as he pulled them out of corpses. Assuming that he got all the info he was able to obtain here, he jumped over now really dead bodies and walked off from the alley. Though not into the same world as he used to know. It was as if he walked into some cheap horror movie.

"This can't be real...can it?"

* * *

_Thank you for reading, favs, follows, anything~ Excuse my usual grammar mistakes, they cling to me like like a leech. It sure is tough to write during exams period...buuuut~ If you leave a review, you'll really make my day. And when I have a good day, I'm creative *winks* _

_Next chapter: What's the thing that made Izaya utter that last sentence? ...Not telling~ *sticks out tongue at you* Stay tuned and you'll see._


	5. Chapter 4

___Auhor's note: Ya-hoo, lovely readers~ Have you noticed how chapters are becoming longer and longer? Heh. This chapter sure is pretty long, how did it happen I wonder. Well, don't get too used to that~ Anyway, I'm satisfied with how this chapter turned out to be ____in the end_, so I hope you'll have fun...eh, is it proper to use this word in this context? I mean, the chapter is full of...Well, you'll see~

* * *

**********____****Title:** _And they lived happily ever after._**********___  
_____****Rating:** ___M (gore, adult topics)_**********___  
_____****Pairings: **___Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya_**********___  
_____****Disclaimer:** ___We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...meh, too much of a bother._

* * *

**The Day. When the angels bring suffering.**

Izaya saw himself as many things, but certainly not as someone who adored children and counted them for adorable innocent cuties. He knew better than that after practically raising his little sisters... Or maybe they've grown up into a pair of the little devils simply because of flourishing influence of their big brother? Oh well. It just proved anyway that Izaya wasn't really fond of kids. It was fun to mess a little with them, as they so cluelessly believed in anything he said, but they were also irrational and annoying. In short, they needed to grow into their full potential of easily predictable adults, so Izaya would find proper interest in them.

But the scene that he almost ran into made something move even in his heart of steel. Karma, he would say, if he believed in such a thing, upon seeing the girl who ran away from her dying lover lying on the pavement in a pool of blood. And around her...

Kids. Primary schoolers, at most 7-8 years old according to Izaya's guess.

And this surely wasn't a group of lovely little angels. More like envoys from hell.

All of them were covered in blood. Some in their own, Izaya judged according to bites covering their tiny bodies. Exposed muscles under torn skin and still warm blood gushing from their ripped veins caused slight nausea in pits of Izaya's stomach. They were emitting that strange growling sound and with clashing teeth they looked for some juicy prey. It would be funny how they clumsily bumped into each other, just if it wasn't so damn disturbing. Few others were still all over the corpse of the young woman, but their feast ended right after the woman stopped writhing under the pressure of their small bodies. They stood up one after one, blood still dripping out of corners of their mouths.

"..." Informant opened his mouth to comment the sight in front of him, but his mind went totally blank, so instead he simply shut it again and carefully moved to the side from the little monsters. He could move like a cat when he wanted, so luckily he didn't attract their attention.

Izaya quickly glanced around and blinked. This part of the street was pretty much empty, people probably ran away in terror when they saw what's happening. Though there were cars driving on the busy road behind the barriers as if nothing ever happened. And on the other side of the wide street people behaved just as any other normal day. They rushed to work or school or wherever they needed to be soon, without knowing what kind of catastrophe was hanging above their heads.

Izaya has never felt so speechless. People were dying right in front of him...Shit, zombies wandered around and those idiotic humans are still going on with their boring normal lives? For a moment there Izaya doubted his mind. Maybe he's just sick and he had hallucinations...

He found out that he would actually be grateful for this explanation, when he felt his heart sunk upon the pressure of cruel reality. Because when he turned his head back to the gruesome scene behind him... Everything was there. Blood and growling and those undead creatures too. The woman from before already became one too, she walked in that grotesque manner typical for _them_ to the opposite side of where Izaya was standing. Without a hesitation he threw a knife, though he needed to waste two more to actually make her die for real this time. Even when he honed his skills with knives for years and he couldn't really remember the last time he missed his target, his hands could evidently still shake a little. That just proved how bad the situation really was.

Izaya prepared more knives and stared at the kids.

There were eight of them. They probably walked together to school when some of them turned into zombies, just like Kaneda did, and they ate the others. The brats were probably too confused to even realize that they are going to be killed by their own friends. Poor little creatures...

Izaya hesitated. He clenched the knives firmly, so firmly that it actually hurt. His mind screamed at him that he must kill them all. It's kill or be killed. Moreover, if he let them be, they'll go and turn more people into zombies. And those people will bite even more people and then...  
Izaya's orbs widened as he realized that if anybody doesn't do anything against it, the city's going to turn into zombiepolis very soon. He still didn't know why healthy people were turning into monsters, but at least it was clear that when you're bitten, you turn into walking corpse in a few minutes. How many of them were already lurking around?

When Izaya registered a movement in front of him, he pushed the thinking aside for later and focused on more acute things, like...his survival. Strategy was simple. He still had twelve knives. He could do it. No, he _has_ to do it. To kill those monsters. Before they got him. Before they got someone else. 'Kill them all and don't get bitten', that was the plan. Simple enough.

A little girl with pigtails approached him. She hardly reached half of the Izaya's height, her dead eyes staring somewhere into direction of his stomach. It seemed like she was able to sense his presence when she got near enough, because she quickened her pace by every step that brought her closer to body overflowing with life, her pretty white teeth eagerly chattering. Izaya just made a few steps back, watching as her friends followed closely behind her. As a pack of wolves following their alpha while hunting their prey.

Izaya gulped, swallowing the urge to throw up. He needed to kill them... All... Even when they were just little brats... Why did they have to turn into this? Why he had to bump into them? He couldn't just leave like he saw nothing. But what the hell happened to the world that he has to kill eight kids during a day in the middle of busy street? Just what the hell. Fucked up reality.

He raised hand with a knife high above his head. Repulsion spreading inside him wasn't really helping his already shaken battle abilities, so he wasn't sure whether his aim would be accurate enough if he threw the knife. And since he couldn't afford to waste any more weapons, he had to dip the blade right into that little skull under nice black hair with pink ribbons in pigtails...

"Pull yourself together, Izaya. It's not a human anymore. It's a monster that will kill you without a hesitation. It's not possible to save her in any other way than sending her back to death where she belongs." He reasoned with himself. "Just do it, damn." But even when he was mentally preparing himself, he still couldn't deliver the final blow which would end the existence of this little girl and then all of her friends. He closed his eyes for a second, taking in a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "It's not 'her'. It's 'it'. When you'll open your eyes, you won't see them as people. It's just a garbage that you need to get rid of. It's okay to do it. Now. Do it."  
He opened his eyes and before he had a time to doubt his action again, he let his arm fall with a force.

The girl had her bloody fingers almost on his body, when the blade landed on her head. The skull crashed under the pressure of metal spike and let the knife sink into depths of the sea of grey cells under it. The sound of the action was so awful that Izaya's stomach flipped in a protest, but he managed to keep his breakfast there. After the brain was smashed so effectively, the body immediately stopped moving. Without struggling or scream or anything. The zombie wasn't capable even of something like that. "How...distasteful." Izaya shivered in disgust, cold sweat running down his spine. The strength of the hit buried the blade into the girl's corpse all the way up to the hilt and the only thing that kept the body in vertical position was the fact that Izaya still held the handle in his hand. He tried to pull the knife out, because he didn't want to give up on one of his weapons, but it was firmly stuck in the bone. After a second of struggling he let it be, because the rest of little zombies got already too close for his liking. Little body with black handle sticking out of its head subsided to the ground as a morbid caricature of unicorn.

It wasn't rational to doubt this decision. It was what needed to be done. So Izaya pushed away his feelings of uneasiness, he will mule about it later. Or rather not. He will forget about this happening as soon it'll be over, or at least he wished so. It'll probably come to haunt him in his nightmares, but right now he didn't have any other choice than to fight. After all the years he had quite a good control over his emotions, so he let his rational cold thinking take over his body.

The knife from Izaya's left hand dipped into the closest boy's head after perfectly delivered throw. It was a short distance, the probability of missing wasn't that high, thus Izaya gave it a try. Turquoise cap covering boy's head started to change the color into rusty brown as his body fell down on the corpse of pigtailed girl. Izaya pulled out another set of knives and jumped to the side when clashing teeth of one bespectacled boy invaded his personal space. He sent knife the way of that boy as soon as he was in safe distance. Unfortunately it missed and flew behind the four-eyes. The blade dipped into body of the girl behind him, but it didn't stop her nor made her slower. It was a terrible sight as she continued walking like nothing happened with blade sunk deep into her neck. Gore trickling from the wound covered her plushy white coat as a red scarf.

Izaya wasn't fazed by anything anymore, his movements among the bunch of little creatures looked like some sort of a game. He was once in the center of the group and right after another try to deliver the last blow to one of them he escaped from the deadly circle to safety, successfully avoiding their poisonous bites. For a millisecond he looked for the easiest target and he jumped into middle of the chaos once again. It was a pretty sick game indeed.

Young informant just stabbed another one of the kids into head, when some people appeared from the building close to the scene. Two businessmen, according their attire, followed by woman in grey costume. They immediately froze in a shock. Trio watched like Izaya sent the girl with knife in her neck to the ground, taking his weapons back from her pitiful corpse, while he was already planning the attack on the other girl that wambled his way. She wore the same coat as was the one that he could feel under the tips of his fingers while pulling out a knife from zombie he just killed. Same coat, same face. It was as if she wanted to revenge her dead twin sister, but Izaya knew it's just a coincidence, because she didn't have any feelings nor thoughts anymore. It was just a moving venomous pile of dead meat, nothing else.

"Half of the job is done," Izaya thought when he straighten up and looked at the remaining four kids. He was so focused on the deadly fight that he didn't notice the group until the woman started to scream and one of the guys ran towards him, roaring curses.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing? Killing children on the street? What psychopathic sicko can do that? You monster!" The second guy followed right after his colleague, while the woman fell to her knees, quickly pulling out her phone to call the police.

Izaya was angry. Really angry. He was just called monster, wasn't he? Silly ungrateful humans.

"I'm saving your poor pathetic lives here..." He spit out angrily and sent another knife flying. The weapon missed its target, because the kid turned to the side when his attention was captured by sudden sounds coming from behind him. The running duo, emitting such a loud noise, attracted the three little zombie boys enough so they gave up on catching Izaya. They started to dangle the way of their supposed saviors, all ready to attack them and making a snack bar from their bodies.

Just a little girl in a fluffy white coat stayed near her sister's murderer. As Izaya's attention was distracted by the idiots that were going to let themselves be eaten, he let her come close enough for her to grab the hem of his clothing. Izaya quickly looked down to check what's tugging his coat and to his terror he saw a cute little monster with her mouth widely open, prepared to sink her immaculate teeth into his body. He immediately tried to pull away, but with a surprise he found out that it's not going to be so easy as to overpower a normal kid. The girl pulled his coat with such a strength that he found himself falling to the ground, his little attacker towering above him after they rolled over once or twice.

"Dammit," Izaya growled and quickly stabbed the little creature into the forehead as she was about to bite him into shoulder. He quickly pushed a dead corpse from himself, adrenaline rushing through his veins like never before. He could hear his own blood pulsing in his ears as he harshly breathed and he just hope it's not a beginning of panic attack. Just now it really sunk into his mind that he's certainly going to die, if his attention will waver for a second. He couldn't really afford it, but he stole himself a moment to come back to his senses. After he was sure that the fear's not going to overwhelm him, he jumped back to his feet and quickly evaluated the situation.

Two zombies were having their feast on screaming and squirming man, while the last one was approaching the second guy, who was obviously petrified in shock. Izaya quickly ran that way, because more awakened zombies just meant more work for him. He had to throw four knives during his spurt, so the little corpse of a boy with backpack on his back fell down, right to the feet of the man that was still alive. He shrieked and looked at an unknown man with eyes full of pure panic. Just like a hunted prey. Izaya returned his gaze, but there was no trace of fear in informant's auburn eyes. Not anymore, he already managed to keep his cool again. When he stopped right next to the last two zombie kids that didn't pay any attention to their surroundings, enjoying their meal, Izaya was even able to smirk at the stranger.

"I've just saved your ass. No need to thank me though~"

He didn't really realized how terrible he looked like. Covered in blood from head to toe, fearless expression on his face in this brutal situation, shining blades in both of his hands...He was like a demon summoned from the deepest hell, something what one doesn't want to see even in his worst nightmares. Smirking as if it was his hobby, Izaya stabbed both undead boys into back of their heads at once. Their bodies became limp on top of the dead man under them. Izaya looked at the corpse, not paying any attention to hysterical woman nor to the other man, who was watching him agape. According to his predictions, the man killed by the zombies already started to turn into a monster too.

After confirming his theory Izaya shifted his eyes to the businessman and exclaimed in a scarily calm voice. "This guy's going to be like one of them soon. Zombies, I mean, if you wonder." He stayed silent for a moment, letting the words properly go through the man's mind. "This isn't any prank, if you think so. It's a reality." Thanks to icy seriousness of his voice, nobody would dare to doubt that statement, not even the biggest skeptics out there.  
"If you want to survive, kill every monster that you meet." Izaya pointed at a man lying on the ground. "This one included. If you won't kill it, it'll bite you and you turn into one of them." He walked over to the guy, bend over to retrieve knife from the head of dead boy lying there and straighten up with rather cruel smirk shining on his lips.  
"You want to survive, don't you?" Informant offered the knife to the completely speechless guy. "Here, you can use my knife." He wasn't so generous out of pure goodness of his heart. Izaya's motives never were so easy and there never was just one behind his actions. Even when the reality has turned into this ridiculous pandemonium, his curiosity about people's reaction haven't disappeared. On the contrary, it was probably stronger than ever before.

"I'll let you solve this. Kill it when it wakes up. I have more important things to do than to wait for it here." He then turned and walked away, glancing at a guy out of corner of his eye over his shoulder. Even in a situation like this he couldn't resist a little mind game. Of course he could kill the newborn zombie on his own. It sure would be much easier for him than for the poor businessman that knew the other man when he was still alive. But during this twisted day, it didn't matter whether it was your mother, lover, son, sister, colleague or best friend. Once the person turned into _that thing_, you had to kill it to persevere your own existence. Izaya was just teaching his people how to survive, didn't he? They should be actually thankful to him. Or at least that's how he saw it.

"So, who is the monster now~" Izaya smirked as he saw the other guy kneeling down to his colleague, boss, friend or whatever the wounded body used to be and started to stab him repeatedly into chest. His victim didn't even turn completely into zombie yet.

"You need to destroy the brain."

As a good information broker he was, Izaya uttered the last friendly comment and the man immediately aimed for the head of the other. Even when it turned into unrecognizable mush after few hits, he stabbed and stabbed... as if he went crazy. Well, maybe he went.

Izaya just shook his head, kind of amused. People broke under the pressure of a situation so easily. This kind of madness...will it help them to survive or will it speed up their destruction, Izaya pondered.

"Maybe it wasn't smart to give him the knife after all. Oh, my bad~"

Informant snickered as he disappeared behind the corner, pushing the thoughts of what just happened deep into corner of his mind. So what if he just slaughtered bunch of primary schoolers. He considered all options and there was nothing else to do. He knew that the next time he's not going to hesitate. Izaya considered himself a perfect being that didn't need to change anything about himself, but he's not going to let his feelings to rule him like that again. But he's not going to lose himself in this craziness either, he didn't want to become an emotionless killing machine. He will handle the situation with detachment of higher being than a poor mortal. He'll do whatever he has to do to ensure his existence.

He didn't know what expect him behind the corner, or the next one, but he knew he's not prepared to die just yet.

He's going to survive this, whatever it was.

* * *

___Thank you for reading, favs and everything else~_

___I wanted to make this chapter extra full of action, something what would make you feel goosebumps and left a really intense aftertaste, but...I suppose I'm not really cut out for it. Slow, suspicious, dark atmosphere, that's my cup of tea. My lovely partner in crime is waaay better in writing fight scenes, so you'll have enough of that when it'll be time for Shizuo to shine, ne, Shizu-chan~? But! I'll work on my action scenes and next time when there will be some fighting, I'll bring you more blood and creepy stuff, what do you think~? Or maybe it's fine as it is, hmm...I really don't know~ You can write me your opinion in a review, nya~?_

___Next time: Last of Izaya's chapters *sniff* What's our cunning info-broker going to do with this mess in his beloved city?_


	6. Chapter 5

___Author's note: Izaya-sama deeeeesu~ I'm being ill, so the update took a little more time than I planned. But it's finally here, so enjoy~ ____This is my last chapter for now, next time be prepared for Shizu-chan's part of the work. See ya. Stay tuned~_

* * *

**************____****Title:** _And they lived happily ever after._**************___  
_____****Rating:** ___M (gore, adult topics)_**************___  
_____****Pairings: **___Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya_**************___  
_____****Disclaimer:** ___We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but-...hmm...Zombies hunting season! Who wanna shoot a zombie or two? Just a symbolic fee~ Weee~_

* * *

**The Day. When information is everything.**

Izaya stood on the roof of a three-storey building and watched the mess in the streets under him. It was high enough to ensure his safety and low enough for him to observe the situation into the details even without his spyglass. As far as he was able to see, people were turning into zombies randomly and then they changed even more people by attacking them. Men and women, young and old, the respectable citizens alongside the punks from the colour gangs; all of them were running mindlessly around, straight into the embrace of bunch of hungry zombies. Begging, sobs and cries of still living people polluted the air together with screams of those dying and growling of those already dead. It was a very unpleasant cacophony. A sound of the decay of civilization.

Subconsciously playing with his knife, dipping the tip into the iron railing which he was leaning on, information broker watched the futile resist of some individuals that tried to fight the monsters. Most of them didn't manage to take out even one of them before they ended like a cursing and screaming pile of meat served as a lunch for the newly born monsters. Others either knelt down and cried or tried to run away, but there was too many of clashing teeth around. Not even buildings were safe according to people that ran out from them in panic, screaming about the monsters.

Izaya glanced to the door on the roof, which he thoroughly entrenched. He didn't need any zombies attacking him from behind. Satisfied with a newly reassured feeling of safety, he looked back to the street, just to notice a woman running into the direction of his shelter. She probably saw him on top of the building, because she was wildly gesticulating to him and the wind brought her call for a help to his ears. The hand holding a knife stopped for a moment, when he saw one zombie popping out from behind a car right behind the woman's back. Even if he threw a knife, from such a distance it was very unlikely to kill the target and moreover, it was like throwing a pebble into the pond. Some other zombie would catch her immediately so why to waste a weapon. He continued in cutting small grooves into the iron, his eyes meeting the woman's just the moment a zombie sunk its teeth into her neck from behind. Izaya saw a spark of hate and disdain in her look before she cried out in pain.

"Ara, ara. It's easy to blame someone else for your death, ne~? If you were strong enough to survive, you wouldn't be down there dying right now, so don't give me that look of betrayal. What am I, a superhero?" Half-hearted smile appeared on his lips and he turned his face to the other side of the street, observing the situation there rather than watching the gruesome scene right under his watchtower.

Izaya knitted his brows together after another few minutes of perceiving the new reality. The situation didn't look very favourably for a human population of the city.

"Nobody does anything against it and it's spreading, rapidly. They need to be killed before they bite even more people..." He mumbled for himself while keeping his eyes on dozens of zombies walking away, deeper into the city. How long it was from the moment Kaneda became a living corpse right in front of him? Few hours? He already saw maybe two thousands of them lurking around, by a quick guess. And who knows how other parts of the city looks like... It really was spreading like a plague. At this rate almost all of the population of the metropolitan city will be doomed in less than 24 hours.

"Somebody...Anybody..."

Izaya knew his fighting skills were awesome, but not even he could get rid of so many zombies and not turn into one of them during the process. He really wasn't any superhero and he didn't plan to lose his life in a heroic battle against the undead while being outnumbered hundreds of times. Sure, he wanted his organized and predictable world back, but this problem was too much for a one person. He needed to contact someone who had more power than him. As the best informant far and wide, he had a vast amount of contacts and he practically knew all the important people in the city.

Right after the best solution popped out in his mind, Izaya quickly pulled out his phone. Luckily, the lines were still working, he assumed after he saw a good signal on his screen. He pressed the button number seven and held it for a few seconds. Of course he had one of his best clients on a speed dial. It was a good decision to call Shiki, Izaya told to himself. As an executive of Awakusu-kai, the man had just as much power as Izaya was looking for in someone right now. Yakuza had weapons plus a lot of men that could use them and wouldn't falter doing so.

He almost fell like singing from happiness when the call was answered. Though just until the moment, when he could hear the voice. It was Shiki's voice for sure, though it was rasp and tired and the informant knew that it's not a good sign.

"Orihara-san...You don't call in a very appropriate moment. I don't feel very well to-..." And his short speech was interrupted by a sudden fit of coughing. Shiki was just as healthy as ever, when Izaya had a lunch with him yesterday, getting a nice generous payment for his provided services. It was funny to walk around the city with a bag full of money, but yakuza usually preferred payment in cash. Well, the point was that the man in a white suit was in his full power yesterday. Now he was obviously ill and it sounded like the man's lungs were trying to go on a walk and see how the world outside the chest looks like.

Not good sign at all.

"Shiki-san, listen to me. It's a very serious information." It probably wasn't the best thing to spill out that zombies are walking around. Who would believe that if he didn't see with his own eyes? He couldn't risk the man will think it's some kind of sick prank, he needed him to take a quick and stout action. "Sudden disease is spreading in the streets of the city. You need to tell your men to kill everybody who was infected. It's not treatable and it's highly contagi-..."

The scream. Izaya couldn't tell whether the phone fell out of his hand from a sudden surprising sound that echoed through his head or because of the weight of the knowledge, which the sound brought to him.

"Awakusu is unusable..." He breathed out when his phone broke to three different parts by the sudden impact with a solid ground.

That scream was overly familiar to Izaya and he didn't doubt at all that right now his well-paying boss is turning into one of those soulless creatures. The whole central was going to turn into chaos as soon as their boss will walk around, biting his own men and turning them into the same monsters as he has become. They'll probably shoot him soon enough, but that doesn't change the fact that they won't have anybody to command them. The fight over the position of a new boss will take place and...

"Oh, my lovely humans. So petty. Fighting over something so futile now. They are practically brainless even before they change into zombies."

Izaya chuckled, the sound teetering on the edge between pure amusement and hysterical breakdown. The situation was terrible and the future looked pretty hopeless at the moment, though Izaya could still laugh at the wonders of a human nature. And maybe he needed it a little. Even being a little hysterical, laugh was a good stress relief and there was no doubt that Izaya was under a lot of pressure now. If it wasn't him, any other person would probably curl into the corner and pray for his survival. Not the young raven though.

He was firmly decided to get his playground back. It couldn't just turn into chaos like this. It wasn't real. Things like this didn't happen in everyday life, just on the screen of the TV. Reality needed to be restored. Order needed to be re-established. That was the only thing Izaya's mind was full of, because others thoughts were too disturbing. He's not going to worry about his survival. He couldn't die. Wasn't he going to live as a 21 years old forever? Indeed. He couldn't die because of something like this. Simply couldn't.

So, when his own survival was ensured in his mind, Izaya knew he has to save as many people as possible. Who will entertain him if he let everybody turn into zombie, right? He will save his lovely humans lives and then let them kneel in front of him and worship him as their saviour.

Well, since the yakuza was now out of the question and there wasn't any military in the capital, Izaya's only other choice to gather enough people with guns was the police.

With a sigh he took another phone, he always had at least three with himself while at home he had another seven of them, and dialled the police.

"_All circuits are busy, please try your call again later._"

"But of course. Useless as always." He didn't really have a high opinion about the city police, they were way too corrupted and their pretending to be the people fighting for the peace and citizens was just so fake, that it made Izaya want to laugh and throw up at the same time. The chief of the police was probably the most useless guy he has ever met and sometimes, just rarely, Izaya felt a little, and really just a little, bad that he provided that little scumbag some information that helped him to destroy his opponents in the elections. Izaya though quickly taught the guy that he's not going to be police's well behaving dog. Actually, Izaya planned to destroy the man's reputation by few piquant facts that he managed to collect and he already couldn't wait to see the man's face twisted in pure horror as his little dirty secrets will make it to the public. Though now it seemed that this lowlife was Izaya's only next trump.

With deeper sigh than before he dialled the police chief's personal number and waited, tapping his foot impatiently against the ground.

"Aaah, Orihara-san, we are a little busy here now. You shouldn't waste my..."

Izaya didn't have time to play with this worm. "Listen you worthless paedophile or I'll send the copy of your hard disk to every publisher of a daily press in the country. I'm sure many people would be interested in seeing what kind of videos you like to watch during long lonely nights~" That made the man on the other side of the line effectively shut up.

"Fine. I'm sure you've already noticed few alarming calls from people. It's simple. The city is full of zombies. No, nobody is playing pranks on you, there are indeed the walking corpses wherever you look." Izaya explained it rather patiently in his judgement and he was beyond irritated when the guy dared to interrupt him.

"B-but..."

"Another word and I'll make you spend the rest of your life in the worst prison in Japan. The guys there sure would love the fact that they can make a former police chief their bitch, but you know what they say. Bastards of your sort aren't very popular even among the prisoners. I wonder if you would survive the first night there..." He let the sentence trail off into an eerie silence. "Don't make me want to see this experiment in real, ne~? Did we understand each other?"

"..." It seemed that police chief took Izaya's words pretty seriously after the warning as he didn't have the courage to even peep in a response, but the raven knew the guy is listening because he could hear his panicked shallow breaths.

"Good. Now. Tell to all of your people to kill every zombie they'll come across. You can't make a mistake, it simply looks like a corpse. Man, woman, kid...it doesn't matter, just shoot it. Into head. You need to destroy the brain. Don't get bitten or you'll turn into one of them in a matter of few minutes. You need to kill them all before they have a chance to bite everybody in this city. Understood? Answer."

"Y-yes."

"Good. Next. Barricade the ci-..."

"W-we were already ordered to do that by mayor."

"Ah. At least someone is doing something. Well, the last thing to do is to call army to get here and help us to wipe out those monsters. Do it immediately as this call ends. If you fulfil your duty to my satisfaction, I'll keep the juicy info about you for myself."

"I'll do as you say, Orihara-sama."

Izaya smirked at the title. Ah, he liked it when people paid him a proper respect. It was nice when they knew their place.

"I'm counting on you. Keep in mind my warning."

He pressed the button to end the call. He knew that with blackmailing like that the man will follow his requests. Not that he wanted anything what wouldn't be just a normal part of police job, so there's no reason for that sad excuse of human to try to fight against Izaya. Informant knew that the pig was too scarred to do something like that anyway. Disgusting.

The call left a bad taste in Izaya's mouth, but he also felt a bit of relief. At least something was going to happen now. It'll all end well. The life will go back to normalcy. For sure.

Though before that happens, it was needed to find out why the normal people were turning into zombies. Like Kaneda. Like Shiki.

There was no doubt that everything started in Yagiri Pharmaceuticals that day three days ago. It would be too much of coincidence, if zombie disease spread across the city and it would have nothing in common with the living corpse that everybody in the city had a chance to see online. There must be some connection. But what is it? On the video it was clear that the corpse tried to bite the scientist, but... He would turn into a zombie right away, wouldn't he? Besides there was a lot of other guys in white cloaks, they wouldn't let the infected guy walk away from the facility. There must be something though... He just didn't have enough info to put all the pieces of info together.

As Izaya thought about who could provide some useful insight into the situation, the name of his one and only friend popped out in his mind. An underground doctor with a sick interest in dissecting corpses and doing weird experiments...

"Oh, Shinra, you must mewl in pleasure over this situation..." Izaya shook his head with a smirk as an image of happily grinning doctor with a scalpel in his hand appeared in his mind. "You better should be okay or I'll kick your ass. I need an info from you, so don't you dare to change into zombie." Izaya murmured.

He would never admit to anybody, not even to himself willingly, that he was simply worried. He knew Shinra for years and he could tell that the weirdo with glasses really was the closest thing to a friend that he ever had. As he looked for the safest and quickest way to Shinra from his high-situated position, other names popped out in his mind and he wondered how many of those people will he ever meet again. Alive, that is. Dotachin and that crew of his...Those interesting kids from Raira...His secretary that he would gladly ask a few questions...But the name that appeared in his thoughts over and over again was something what wouldn't probably anybody guessed right.

"I wonder if Shizu-chan is still alive?" Izaya nibbled his bottom lip, lost in the thoughts for a moment as he stared at a grey clouded sky. "Well, monster can't really become more of a monster, right?" He smirked in the end. "I should feel sorry for the poor zombies that will cross Shizu-chan's way..."

With a slightly more cheerful mood, he moved from the spot.

"Stay alive, ne, Shizu-chan?"

It wasn't more than soft whisper that got lost in the air, when Izaya rushed to jump on the other roof, assuming that staying out of the streets was his best choice. His fluffy coat was floating behind him in the air as he jumped from one building to another, making his way to Shinra's and Celty's apartment.

* * *

_Thank you for reading, it's a pleasure to share the story with you. As an equivalent exchange, leave some feedback and share your opinions with the authors~ _

_Also, it could be interesting to see who else would you like to see in the story. Me and Shizu-chan have some plans and ideas for later, but there's still a lot of space for adding a little event, I think~ We could take your ideas into consideration, so feel free to share them with us._

_Next chapter: We'll look at The Day through the eyes of the Ikebukuro's Fortissimo. Ganbatte, Shizu-chan~ Don't turn into a zombie, ne~?_


	7. Chapter 6

_Author's note: Hey guys, Shizuo here. I wrote this bit some time ago with the flea keeping a close eye on it so I hope that it turns out well for you. I apologize for any grammar mistakes or whatever since English ain't my first language. Anyway, I won't waste anymore time in blabbering. Have fun reading this and I'll be glad if you leave a review._

* * *

___**Title:** And they lived happily ever after.  
**Rating:** M (gore, adult topics)  
**Pairings:** Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya  
**Disclaimer:** We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...Hm. We are the owners of the zombies. Howgh._

* * *

**The Day. Outbreak is inevitable.**

''Fucking bastard..''

A quiet cursed escaped the ex-bartender's mouth as he tapped his foot in impatience, breathing in deeply and breathing out. In a way, he tried to puff out in anger, blowing away all the rage inside him that threatened to blow up any second.

''I don't get it, he's supposed to be here.'' Shizuo heard Tom voice out, looking around the place in complete bewilderment. The man they're supposed to meet today to collect the debthe owned was nowhere to be found. The address that was given to him was exactly at Heiwa Dori, the West Side of Ikebukuro. So after the two made their way to the place, it was empty. The smooth, wooden counter seemed like it hasn't been used for some time. The chairs were unoccupied. The cupboards where all kinds of wine were once stacked at the back, were all gone. Nobody was there.

And that's where he realized it. Because at the front window, a small piece of paper was taped to the dusty glass, complete with crude writing that looked like it was written by someone who had shaky hands.

'Out of Business'

''That guy's running away from his debt.'' Shizuo hissed through his teeth, just thinking about that pathetic low-life made his blood boil. He's not gonna let anybody escape and chicken their way out. Tom shook his head in disappointment, and took a number of steps around the bar, heading to the exit.

''Let's go, Shizuo..We'll find some way to deal with Mr. Hashimoto later.'' Tom said in a tired voice, and Shizuo was sure that his boss sounded miserable.

It was stuff like this that gets on Shizuo's nerves. All these stupid scams and lies people had made to earn some quick money pissed him off to no end. He felt like it was always the same thing over and over again. Cheating and lying and borrowing and running…

''Arghh..'' The ex-bartender shoved his hands deep in his pockets, counted to ten, and followed after his boss out of the bar. His head hung low and his breathing even. Really, that scum's lucky Shizuo didn't know where he was. If he got his hands on him, he'll make sure to break all his bones before snapping his neck just like that. He'll _torture_ that rat before he dies..

''Alright, that's the last of them.'' An agitated Tom sounded out as he went through the list of names with addresses. A list of people who reached the deadline to pay back the money. Shizuo stood behind him, a habitual scowl stretched over the man's lips, creating an undeniable aura of tension and anger.

''You okay?'' Tom tossed a look over his shoulder at his bodyguard with his eyebrows raised, clearly worried. With a quiet huff, Shizuo shook his head in denial and pushed the rim of his coloured shades up the bridge of his nose.

''I'm fine.'' He replied.

But he wasn't fine. The first time he dyed his hair, people had been so intimidated by him that they almost slunk back to hide whenever Shizuo was around. The title managed to last even after graduation, until he even managed to gain a reputation in the city. Maybe that's why Mr. Hashimoto ran away. Maybe it was because of Shizuo's feared reputation of being the 'Beast' of Ikebukuro. Maybe that was why people were terrified of just seeing him around the city. Whether he was having lunch or working, he still had eyes full of terror staring right at him.

There were some faint rummaging noises before a loud smack sounded out from inside the bar, as one of the tables knocked itself over. Shizuo and Tom jumped, and their attention was quickly back towards the old bar again.

''Ahhhh..'' A faint noise came from the back of the bar.

Shizuo scoffed and went back in the bar, thinking that he might be the man that they were after. There was definitely someone inside the bar. His face was a furious red by now as Shizuo went straight at the back end of the room, where he felt something pull his feet.

''What the…'' He looked down, and sure enough a pair of hands were crawling and scratching his loafers. Looking harder, it turned out to be a fat man dressed in a tuxedo and glasses, looking like he's been crying. Pretty pissed off, Shizuo delivered a strong kick at the man's face, knocking all the air out of his lungs and sending his glasses flying across the room. But he wasn't done there, because he tugged the man's hair sharply, forcing him to sit up.

''Stop, please..!'' The man pleaded, blood dripping from the scar he got from his forehead.

''Shizuo…That's not him.'' Tom said casually as he stepped in after the two. The man on the floor nodded rapidly, his hair was still in Shizuo's tight, iron grip. The blonde clicked his tongue before letting the man go, as he fell to the ground with a wheeze.

Shizuo stayed quiet as his boss calmly went towards the man, squatting down beside him. The man looked up at him with pitiful eyes. His expression almost reminded Shizuo of anybody who dared to stand in his way.

''Good afternoon. We're looking for the owner of this bar. Have you seen him?'' Tom asked in a smooth voice, straight to the point. Not asking for more, not asking for less either.

''He just left! Says he's going to that old warehouse just a few miles from here. That asshole…'' he spat, more tears brimming in his eyes.

Now _that_ caught Shizuo's attention. The man was probably someone Mr. Hashimoto owed money to, just like them.

''Warehouse..? You mean the one in the suburbs?'' Tom asked.

''Yeah, says he's going there. I don't know why..! It's that video. It's that damn video…''

''Video?''

''The corpse.. It's alive…He has something to do with them. I just know it!'' The man started to spew his words out crazily. Both Tom and Shizuo were getting more and more uncomfortable.

Tom stood up and shot a bored look at Shizuo, one that said 'We have a job to do.'

As Shizuo and Tom made their way around the circuitous area, the sun was already high up in the sky. No trace of a single cloud was even seen through the crystal clear blue sky that day.

"Tch… I'll kill that guy for running away first before he pays his debt." Shizuo muttered under his breath. Paying no attention to his companion, Tom continued on walking ahead.

The sun glared mercilessly as the two walked in silence along the indistinguishable pathway. Thinking back to the clue left by the man, Tom felt his conscience feeling more and more unsure. Why the warehouse? No, he must have gone here. Where else could he have chosen to go?

Feeling a little indecisive at his sudden decision to look at the warehouse area, Tom wiped a sweat that perspired from his forehead with the back of his hands and took a quick glance around the area. Both of the men's clothing were darkened by now, as sweat soaked their entire body. The high surrounding stacked-up old crates predominated over them, making the area quite umbrageous.

It took them just a few minutes to arrive at the haunting-looking entrance to the warehouse. Having a much closer inspection at the abandoned warehouse now, it was creepily eery and lonely, even in broad daylight. Its door was broken and exposed, causing criss-crossing patterns against its walls. Before Tom could even speak, Shizuo was already walking past him at a fast pace, heading straight towards the door. He was at his boiling point by this moment, his face red with anger. Without a moment's hesitation, he knocked the door down with all the force he could muster. The door was annihilated completely under his incredible strength. Tom sighed mildly and followed after the extirpator.

Just as they stepped foot into the old and dilapidated warehouse, the distinctive odour of the rotting crates immediately filled their noses. It was dark, cold andpallets of all shapes and sizes lined up the building, along with broken pieces of wood and chunks of metal that fell apart. Up at the ceiling, lights hanging from strings looked like they were busted. Some even fell to the ground as the glass shards from the fluorescentlight bulbs shattered across the concrete floor. Tom looked around warily, beginning to doubt that the man they were looking for is even here in the first place. He glanced at Shizuo's back, as the blonde began to kick around pallets, the noises echoed through the warehouse.

''Shizuo, I don't think he's here.'' The dreadlocked male mumbled, his knuckles turning white. Tom wondered why Mr. Hashimoto headed to a warehouse, of all places? And that video the man was talking about earlier, about the corpse and how it was still alive. He knew how popular the video was, but he had no idea that he'd come across people who's obsessed with it firsthand. Paranoia kicking in, he shook his head with a sigh, as if trying to shake away all his thoughts that was starting to send chills down his spine.

After a minute or two of blindly searching around, Shizuo gave up begrudgingly. ''Not here..'' he spat, the tone of how he said it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He turned back and walked to Tom as slowly as he could, and Tom knew that Shizuo was extremely pissed off by this point. Stiffening, Shizuo's outrage was cut short and forced to disinflate as a loud and painful moan came from between the broken, foul-smelling crates of the warehouse. Swallowing, cold sweat began to form at his forehead, covered by the bangs of his messy, unruly blond hair. Tom gave a nervous side glance at Shizuo, as if warning him to stay quiet. Both had no idea what mess they've gotten themselves into.

While he had been squirming about in between the crates, another desperate groan escaped Mr. Hashimoto's lips as he scrambled about on the concrete. Having discovered that Shizuo and Tom was there, he shot up unsteadily, fire in his eyes.

''They're coming…They're coming for us!'' the man roared thunderously, and he sounded like there was a hint of madness in his tone. Tom looked at him cautiously, and Shizuo was starting to second guess his decision of coming all to way to the suburban area.

''Hahh?''Shizuo asked, confused.

Tensing up, Tom managed to muster his courage to speak up. ''Calm down, Mr. Hashimoto. We're only here to settle your—''

But before he even got the chance to finish his sentence, Mr. Hashimoto spat and trembled violently, his face drained of blood. His throat constricted horribly as he started to cough out phlegm. Shizuo shifted in his track and eyed Tom, unsure of what's he supposed to do. He couldn't possibly beat the guy up anymore, because he seemed like he was so afraid and miserable, Shizuo only felt pity for the man. Even though the anger preserved in the blonde throughout their entire journey here told him to end that vermin's life..Deep down, Shizuo wasn't a bad person. He longed for a life of peace. Shizuo was gentle and even though he was the perpetrator of the nickname, but he was never a monster.

Shizuo's guard was up and the only thing he could do was watch the man. Watch the man as he hacked and cough, sounding like he was being tortured brutally. His ebony hair looked course and his skin began to redden up. Tom gulped cautiously, preparing to turn back and head back in the city immediately. This guy was nuts. But he couldn't let him go just like that, could he? Mr. Hashimoto was still in debt, and it was their job to collect it, no matter what circumstances they're in.

''What are you still doing here? Find your own place to hide!'' he cried after a series of heavy coughing fits, loud enough to echo throughout the entire warehouse. Outside, the sun's disc started to disappear in the horizon, indicating that it was already evening. The sky darkened an orange glow and the warehouse darkened too, too dark that Shizuo couldn't see the man's face properly.

''Hide?'' Tom raised his brows. The tan-skinned man cleared his throat as he regained his composure. ''Calm down. There's nothing to hide from.'' Tom tried his best to soothe the obviously mad man, who reminded him of a village idiot.

''He's wasting our time!'' Shizuo broke the atmosphere and snarled, his patience running out. Out of his peripheral vision, the man's nostril's flared more.

And with a thud, the man collapsed at the ground.

'Shit, what the hell..Did he just die or something? What is happening?' ran through the blonde's mind.

Then, complete silence passed. Shizuo felt like the blood in his ears throbbed, accompanied by ringing noises. Outside the secluded warehouse, crickets started to chirp. A long, pregnant pause passed between them as a strange feeling of strained uneasiness waved over Tom. Mr Hashimoto groaned again, his head faced down on the concrete floor. As Shizuo observed him from a few feet away, Mr. Hashimoto suddenlyglared upviciously at the ex-bartender, with unusually huge eyes and a 's mouth parted open more and more as Mr. Hashimoto's large eyes slowly turned into something more of a grey, caesious colour. Time slowed up eerily as the man's body twitched and jolted.

Tom was too stunned to move, as fear kept him paralyzed to the spot. Their ears were then blasted by Mr. Hashimoto, who began to scream at such a high-pitch voice, stopping to cough in between. Drool leaked out from his mouth as he continued to spit and groan loudly at Shizuo and his boss. Shizuo gulped nervously, and for the first time, fear brainwashed him. Never had he seen such a sight.

''Rargghh..'' the man growled, almost like a tiger. As if the rotting crate odour was already not enough for the two, a foul, putrid stench emanated from Mr. Hashimoto attacked both Tom and Shizuo's noses. Something seemed familiar about him..

Of course. He couldn't see it in his eyes, but this guy was something else. Thinking about the video yesterday, everything started to click. Because this guy acted exactly like the corpse in the video. His demeanour, his actions, his sounds..

He was exactly like the corpse. Precisely.

Shizuo's eyes widened as he was rooted to the spot. He couldn't move, he couldn't even feel his fingers. His legs went numb and his face cold.

So as Mr. Hashimoto abruptly stood up and lurched forward at Tom, Shizuo couldn't even move a muscle. Tom yelped as the man sinked his teeth into his shoulder, blood forming at his clothes. The bodyguard doesn't even notice the pool of blood that dripped down as Tom fell down to the ground like a sack of potato. Worst of all, Shizuo didn't even protect him. He didn't even do anything.

''Tom-san!'' Shizuo voiced out, suddenly snapped back to reality. Tom laid there motionless on the ground in his own blood. And before he can even come to his boss's rescue, Mr. Hashimoto was already limping towards Shizuo, his mouth wide open, revealing his teeth.

A mixture of emotions bounced around inside Shizuo like a pinball machine. He was so afraid, so lost, so confused and most of all - angry. He was so angry that not only this guy freaking _murdered_ his boss and good friend, but he was also angry at himself for not stopping him. If only time could turn back, just for a bit..then maybe he would've rescued , he couldn't do that. He had no choice but to clench his fists, the thirst for revenge pumped through his entire body. Shizuo looked down at the ground, his bangs covering his dark, chocolate eyes. And that's where he felt sudden hate. He felt deep, detestable hatred towards his guy.

''I'll kill you, bastard..'' Shizuo growled in an animalistic voice, with renewed determination fueled with vengeance. He was gonna avenge Tom.

Mr. Hashimoto didn't reply with any coherent answer, except for moaning and groaning. He didn't laugh, he didn't smile wickedly like Shizuo thought he'd do. No frowns either. All he did was groan lowly, as his body twitched and quivered repeatedly. Shizuo took a few steps back and bumped into a crate, causing it to fall down with a thud. The zombie continued to follow him, but very slowly.

Shizuo didn't turn around, keeping his eyes glued on the zombie. His hands wandered about behind him, until finally he grabbed hold of a small crate. After taking it in his hands, Shizuo took a deep breath as he aimed for the fast-approaching zombie, making sure his accuracy was extra deadly.

With a battle cry, Shizuo hurled the crate directly at Mr. Hashimoto with all the force in the world, hitting him on the torso as he fell to the floor. The tired blonde instantly approached him, while he's still laying on the floor. Shizuo panted for a while before he raised his leg, and stomped on the man's face again and again, crushing the man's putrescent skull under his powerful wrath. Blood spewed out from his ears, his nose, his eyes, and his mouth. Shizuo showed no mercy as he absolutely crushed his skull. _Splat_,_ splat, splat_…

The man's face was flat and unrecognisable now. Mr. Hashimoto was dead.

Moments passed, before Shizuo's anger disappeared. His face became more of a horrified expression.

He just killed a man.

He just killed a man with his bare hands.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, favs and follows~ Don't forget to post a review, it's a food for author's minds. _

_Next chapter: Tom is going to turn into zombie, isn't he? We'll see it thanks to Shizuo sticking around for a while._


	8. Chapter 7

_Author's note: It's me again, thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter. Glad you folks liked it! In this chapter, I wanted to take the zombie apocalypse to a whole new level, since I love over-the-top things so much. Heh. And yes, Tom turned into a zombie. Oh well, it's a zombie apocalypse fic. Nobody's safe. At all. Enjoy the chapter~_

* * *

_**Title:** And they lived happily ever after.  
**Rating:** M (gore, adult topics)  
**Pairings:** Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya  
**Disclaimer:** We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...Okay, we own all except Tom~_

* * *

Shizuo's hands were shaking as his heartbeat level raised. His heart thumped so fast, he almost thought that his heart was gonna explode.

Remembering that he had other things to take care of, Shizuo hurriedly headed towards Tom, who laid there on the ground. The anxious blonde crouched down next to the man, as he reached out to hold Tom's hand.

''Tom…san?'' Shizuo rasped, as he held on to his boss.

No answer.

''Shit!'' he cursed, and this time he placed his ear against Tom's crimson stained chest, just to pick up any pulse, or heartbeat..Anything..

Still nothing.

Shizuo lost it. If it's the worst feeling he has ever experienced his entire life, then it would be this exact moment. He still held on to Tom and cried, pain slicing deep in his heart.

''Hhhhaaa..'' Tom suddenly breathed lowly, chest heaving.

Shizuo held his head up and stared at Tom. Just maybe there was still hope for his boss. He would call the hospital, people would come and save him, and everything will be okay. Everything started to take a turn towards the better.

But what happened next was a shock. As soon as Tom opened his eyes, his irises weren't the original colour anymore. Instead, a pair of granite, cloudy eyes stared back at him, which reminded Shizuo of blindness. His face a pale, greenish colour and his lips was so dry that it started to pick and fall off.

''No..'' Shizuo said as he stood up and backed away, disbelief washed over him.

Tom-san turned into one of…them.

''It's me! Fuck!'' He tried to reason with his boss, but Tom only crawled towards him, limping and stretching his fingers to grab him. He moaned lowly, opening his mouth to sink his teeth into any human flesh he'll come across. It was weird, seeing his good friend, turn into some sort of monster.

Shizuo had to get out of there. He couldn't bare killing off his senpai.

And suddenly, six or seven zombies approached him out of the blue, popping out of nowhere.

''H-how did they get in?!'' Shizuo asked himself, watching the zombies suddenly fill up the empty spaces in the dark, haunting warehouse.

And when the dread formed at his chest was too heavy for him to burden, he turned on his heel and ran out of the warehouse.

The vast, velvety expanse of blackness darkened as the night went on. How it suddenly became night amazed him. Did he really spend that long at the warehouse? He didn't know. The sun had completed its tour for the day, and had now been replaced by myriad stars, which dotted the inky canopy.

He felt a hot, painful tear leaking down his cheeks, but he kept on running until he reached the entrance, clumsily knocking over rusty, crude oil cans on the way. Shizuo's heart sank as a group of silhouettes ambled towards his way. They were everywhere. The creatures were everywhere. He felt like losing his sanity by every minute, when the zombies surrounded the warehouse. He scanned them nervously, all of them had the same amount of hunger as Mr. Hashimoto. Zombies were closing in from not only inside the warehouse, but outside too.

As one of them suddenly lunged forward at Shizuo, he dodged and kicked it's back, where it fell to the ground and into the crude oil cans. In the state of panic, Shizuo quickly took out the lighter of his cigarette and fumbled with it, sparking up a flame. He breathed a sigh of relief momentarily, but more zombies were getting closer and closer to him.

''Tsk!'' he clicked his tongue as he was rushed, so he threw the lighter at the oil, setting it ablaze. The thick smell of gasoline attacked his lungs and he quickly made a run for it. The fire only intensified more and soon consumed the warehouse, thick black smoke released into the air.

His relief was short. In front of him, another group of zombies made his way towards him. And another. Never-ending creatures filled the landscape fast.

They were everywhere.

* * *

Going back to Ikebukuro was an easy task for him. He had to figure out a way back into the city fast, because he was at the outskirts of town. Practically, he was at the industrial area, somewhere at the suburbs. Where the road was rocky and dusty red, and the people there never smiled.

Of course, he was surrounded by 'them'.

'They' are no other than mindless beings who lurk in the shadows of your nightmares, waiting silently for their time to strike. They are creatures without a conscience, only made to kill and feast on the innocent.

So he fought his way back home. HeiwajimaShizuo fought like a beast – which is to say, he fought the creatures with ease. He hadn't fought like this since..well.. he couldn't even remember. Despite being a man of peace and millions of time he's said that he despised using violence, his body took over and said: Kill,Kill,Kill,Kill…

One after one, decayed bodies start to pile up on the ground with a moan and a grunt. Some even kicked and screamed, disoriented and pitiful as it quivered and wept. Shizuo had just delivered a massive hit to it's head with his fist, causing the ghastly figure to stumble on the ground, twitching around. Souless, rancid bodies would squirm and writhe, only to get to their feet once again. And again, Shizuo only clenched his fists harder to punch the back of their heads with all the force he could muster up. They fell to the ground, shaking uncontrollably until finally, stood still. A dance of death.

He stood still for a long time, panting and trembling as he looked at the amount of creatures he ended with a frown. These are people. Only, there weren't people anymore… They've become animals. Animals who tear apart other humans to satisfy their ravenous desire for flesh and blood. The thought of such creatures lurking around at the darkest corners of Ikebukuro, hungry and drooling for any life form out there, left Shizuo in the state of panic.

He's startled as another blood-curling scream penetrated through his eardrums. Quickly ducking behind a car, Shizuo's eyes widened at the sight of a man getting cornered into an alley, not far from where he's at. They knocked him down, grabbing his head and legs as he cried for mercy. The blond's heart thumped faster and faster when the man's crazed eyes ooze out somehow in an ungraceful manner. They tore off his flesh, ripping him apart like wild beasts. It started with his feet, when he's still alive. He cried out in agony but they continued to gnaw and snap his body along with disgusting sounds of bones and cartilage cracking and being pulled apart.

The man's skin deteriorated within seconds, and Shizuo watched every detail of it. The sight was sharp and clear and burned in the back of his mind for the rest of his life. He'll never forget how the man's body sunken and his skin decaying. The man's skin quickly decolourised and bits of dried skin fell to the ground, layered with blood. It showed his muscles, which was a disturbing vermilion red. Just when his eyes became a sickly greyish colour, he vomited on the ground, blood spilling and Shizuo could almost swear that he spat out an organ as the man continued to hack and cough violently. It snarled in the end, his voice gruff and unintelligent. It didn't sound like a human anymore. It sounded like an animal. Truly an animal. Whatever it was, he's not planning on staying for long. He has to go somewhere safe. He has to go to Shinra's.

'Shit...'' Shizuo cursed to himself, falling to his knees with his hands buried in his hair, just pulling and tugging his locks with all the cruelty in the world. He'd laughed at this, if he could. If only he could find his voice, he'd laughed at how everything turned out. He'd laughed at how he's no different than them, because they're beasts.

Just like him..

A beast.

And after all of that, Shizuo could only think of his brother. His friends, and everyone that he cared about. He lost all contact with them, because nobody answered his calls or messages. None. It was as if the whole world's plunged into terrible chaos, and fell into silence. Not only that he couldn't communicate with them, but he couldn't protect them. Just look at Tanaka Tom for example. It made him feel like he's the worst.

But at least he's still alive. He's still walking around with blood running through his veins, right? His heart's still beating inside his chest. Looking around, everything felt exactly like the end of the world as everybody knew it. Just for a moment, the creatures remained still again, and stood up, undeserving life evident in their cold, dead eyes. Shizuo clenched his fists until his nails dug in his skin, desperate to escape from the sounds of low moaning and gnawing. The ghastly being snapped it's jaw like it was finding raw meat to sick it's teeth into.

He got up to his feet and felt something wet running down his nose. Shizuo froze for a bit, realizing that his nose was bleeding. Horrified, he quickly wiped the blood that ran down his nose with his sleeve and choked back a tear. He really needed to get out of here before those..whatever it was gorge their teeth on him too. So he ran and ran. In between buildings, ducking between alleys, shoulders just brushing past the walls of storefronts and shop houses. He could hear footsteps behind him, but he didn't care. All he did was run. Shizuo knew that the undead was on his tail, but he was fast. Years of chasing Izaya and mastering parkour finally paid off. He smiled bitterly to himself, thinking how he never caught up to the flea but it did help run away from the zombies, at least.

And he's fast, so the sounds of his footsteps disappeared as fast as it appeared, leaving the zombies that were following him to turn back quickly, when everything became quiet again. Shizuo was still shivering from what happened, so angry, so stunned, so upside-down confused that he just had to stop at an alley to calm himself down, paralysed from fear. He wanted to kill everything, he wanted to vanish into gusts and never come back. What's the fucking use? Now wasn't the time for self-pity. The voice in the back of his mind told himself again and again. It's never your fault..It never was.

He looked at his arm, his skin pale and his nails were dark, the end bits covered with dried blood. A few scrapes, some wounds and a fleck of dirt. But no bites. His hair was in a mess. His stomach churned repeatedly, and the darkness of the city didn't help him at all. Shizuo had never felt so relieved when he heard the sounds of horns honking at the Highway. He could barely see it, but there were people inside their cars. They were in a jam for what seemed forever, the red and yellow lights flashing through the streets where he's at, painting a pretty normal picture of a pretty normal life at the city.

Shaking his head, he looked around wildly for any signs of a zombie trailing him. The blonde grabbed a sign pole and ripped it off as the piece of metal crumbled to the ground. He held it close with him just in case he needed to kill those demons. But they weren't near him. For now. At the corners of the crossroads stood a young woman with a child in her hands, just sitting on the asphalt with tears brimming in her eyes. Besides her was a pool of blood and a razor sharp knife, it's contours were stark in the middle of red. The blood was dripping from her arms.

''Hey, you okay?'' Shizuo asked, signpole tight in his grip.

The woman sat still with the baby wrapped up in a piece of clothes, ignoring his presence. As if she awaited death. Shizuo looked closely, and he could tell that the baby was not moving at all. There wasn't any cries or mewls or anything like that. He bowed his head down in silence as the mother sobbed and sobbed until her shoulders shook. Suddenly, she faced him, her expression hostile. Still holding on to the signpole as if it was his life, he took a deep breathe.

''You shouldn't stay out here..'' Shizuo continued, his voice was rasp and shaky as he lightly touched her shoulder to comfort her.

What happened next caught him by surprise. Because at that very moment, the woman chose to shriek and push him away, her eyes widening in terror. The smell of blood on her was antagonizingly fetid.

''You..You're here to kill me? Right?'' she screamed and dropped her dead baby to the ground. The move enabled Shizuo to have another look at it, and he could make out that the baby's stomach was cut open and it's intestines spewed out in a mess. Shizuo dropped his signpole to the ground with a loud clang, too petrified to figure out what was happening. She's insane. The effect of what happened over the past 24 hours on people was terrifying. Crying out, the woman started to scream as wet tears ran down her cheeks, her hands covering her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Panic flickered through the blonde's eyes because not far from there, the bloody creatures appeared at the corner next to a main gate. And that's when he was hit with a sudden realization. She's..attracting them. With her sound.

''Tch..Oi, lady. Calm down!'' Shizuo whisper-shouted at her, holding out his hands in defence. Out of the corners of his eyes, more zombies in groups started to gather at the end of the road and towards them. It spread out from it's group and scattered around, mouth open with drool leaking out of their horrid mouths. He scanned the mob who had followed her voice as his body start to heat up.

The lady didn't take notice of the incoming zombies, and Shizuo glared at her viciously. He huffed as the woman screamed, attracting even more unwanted attention. Over at the other side of the road, a particularly ugly-looking zombie was ahead than the rest, a snicker embroidered his lips as he snap his jaw open and close like castanets. He was lumbering at them, as if he can smell fresh meat and blood. He looked ready to feast on the two like a predator he was.

''You're on your own.'' Shizuo decided, scrambling up as he scampered off, away from the unfortunate woman who seemingly had a large group of the zombies behind her. Yet another fresh victim for the evergrowing army of the undead. The eery road hooted with laughter as Shizuo picked up his speed and ran. His last memory of that woman was that she was laughing madly, but he wasn't gonna risk it and turn back. It's either run or die. As simple as that.

Shizuo closed his eyes when the woman screamed out in pain as the zombies finally caught up to her. With crazed eyes, they grabbed her leg and pulled her down. She kicked and screamed, but as she shook off one, another zombie replaced it. She squirmed into the ground desperate to get away. Soon they were at her thigh, and suddenly, they fell upon him like a swarm like bees, around her head, his chest, and her arms. They surrounded her and their mouth twitched with drool, craving for human flesh. They gnawed her shoulder while pinning her down, and soon her shouts were nothing more than a memory. He ran until he couldn't hear them anymore. He saw everything that he didn't wanted to see, so he refused to turn back.

Shizuo sighed a long sigh of relief, his distress lessening as he stepped up to Shinra's door, panting harshly. Shizuo started to tremble. At the base of the stairs, the cement edge cracked under the blonde's feet. A chill went down his spine but he ignored it, and reached out to knock on the doctor's door. His fingers turned white while he waited for an answer. The anxious blonde stood there praying to deity that the zombies didn't follow him. He still had so many questions that his brain felt like it was going to melt.

* * *

_Thank you for reading~ Reviews are always appreciated, so don't forget to leave one. After this chapter everybody has to understand, why I adore my sweet Shizu-chan so much~ *snickers*_

_Next chapter: Everybody is heading over to Shinra, so...if you want to see how he's dealing with this Armageddon, stay tuned~_


	9. Chapter 8

_Author's note: Tadaima! Shizu-chan had his time to shine, now it's time for a little chapter from me. It really isn't too long, but it was fun to write. Shinra is surprisingly amusing character to spend the time with~ Well, we can't spoil you with blood and gore in every chapter, so __I hope you'll enjoy this, even when it's quite a peaceful chapter. _

* * *

_**Title:** And they lived happily ever after.  
**Rating:** M (gore, adult topics)  
**Pairings:** Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya  
**Disclaimer:** We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...Shinra confiscated them for his crazy experiments._

* * *

**The Day. When it is finally a good time to dissect a body or two.**

It was pretty late, when Shinra opened his eyes that morning. Probably it would be better to call it afternoon. It was understandable, since he spent all night pulling out bullets from some yakuza guys and it's almost impossible to imagine for anybody who hasn't experienced it, just how stressful and energy draining is doing several operations with gun pointed at your head.

What was so fascinating about Shinra and what made him the favourite unlicensed doctor in this part of the city was the fact that even when he looked like scared over-caffeinated squirrel while dealing with many of his clients, his hands have never shook and his scalpel has never slipped. In all those few rare cases when he couldn't save someone, he was always spared, simply because the 'bosses' knew there was no chance to do anything else, when this particular doctor didn't help. He was too valuable to be so promptly eliminated. His life had in eyes of the important people more value than life of some stooge that managed to get himself wounded so stupidly severe. Though they reminded him from time to time that even he's just a mere human and thus replaceable, as they played with their Glocks and other guns, names of which Shinra didn't know and didn't want to know. What does it matter what kind of bullet hits you, when your brain will splash all around the wall behind you? Really not an important detail.

So Shinra simply did his job to the best of his abilities, drops of sweat running down his forehead and his back, when he dipped the scalpel into hurt bodies again and again. He even managed to share his crappy jokes and silly grin with whoever was there to look over his patients. He often thought about just how nice for the scientist is, when the subject isn't the living and hurting body and always quietly sighed. To the most of the people it could sound weird, creepy, sick and unnatural, but he simply loved dissecting. To find out the mysteries of the body, the muscles, bones and cells...The little deviance from the norm, that made every body unique...It's just utterly interesting and beautiful. You can't come to know the body so completely, while it's still alive. Maybe it was the reason, or one of them, why he fell in love with Celty. She was like fulfilling his dreams in this area. But one's never certain, when it comes to such a complicated thing as love.

As Shinra made his way to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water after he rolled out of his bed, he laughed aloud at one pretty old memory.

It was funny how his mind worked, jumping from his work to his scientific interest and then randomly to one sunny highschool afternoon, when they were supposed to dissect frogs in biology class. He was so excited that time, so focused on the little green animal in front of him, that he wasn't sure how everything started. He only remembered Shizuo's blazer stained by some disgustingly stinky fluid and how the blonde completely lost it upon hearing Izaya's loud fit of laughter. Nobody knew how it was possible that the little experimental corpse pretty much exploded right after Shizuo poked it with tip of his scalpel nor how it happened that the little frog's body contained so much hydrogen sulfide. Well, 'nobody knew'. Of course it was generally known as one of Izaya's pranks on Shizuo (and it was a pretty famous one), but nobody held any proof against the cunning blackhaired teenager. Though Shizuo never needed any proofs so he could go on rampage on his mortal enemy. The whole mess ended with Shizuo on detention for a week, destroyed laboratory and, to Shinra's disappointment, a new rule of never ever letting the students to dissect the frogs.

Remembering the good old days, he moved to the kitchen, switching on the TV on his way. He found out that Celty left him a lunch in the fridge, what made him immensely happy, though even when that woman was magical creature – or probably because of it - she couldn't get the human cuisine quite right...Nobody in his healthy mind would eat whatever she cooked, though Shinra usually ate it all and didn't spare the praising words. But even he needed normal nourishment from time to time, moreover when he was tired like today. So, focused on preparation of some eatable food, he continued in trail of his previous thoughts and pondered just what he had done in his previous life, when karma gave him friends like Izaya and Shizuo. Either he had to do something amazing, when it sent him so fascinatingly useful (Izaya) or scientifically fascinating (Shizuo) people or he really was a terrible person in the past, since his best friends were both dangerous freaks. He couldn't make up his mind on the dilemma, but it brought him a lot of entertainment. He whistled as he cooked, completely missing the stuff that they aired in TV. Just when he plopped himself on the couch with plate of nicely smelling omelette in his hand, the terror hit him out of nowhere and his good mood was forgotten in a blink. The moment the falling plate broke on the floor was the last one of Shinra's old life and the first one of the nightmare which was impossible to wake up from.

_"...their occurrence isn't reported anywhere else beside the districts Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo and Kanagawa. Their numbers aren't really known, but the rough guess would be around 100 000 by now and it's quickly and rapidly growing...Moment, I just received the fresh information...There's probably more than 250 000 of them right now, I repeat more than 250 000._

_Let me read the official announcement from government once again._

_'Our dear citizens. Our metropolis was hit by highly contagious illness. But we work on the medication and soon we'll be able to stop it. There's no reason to panic, we have the situation under control. Thus there are some warnings for people in infested area. Stay in your houses. If you are outside, immediately try to get into a safe building. Stay inside. When you spot anybody suspicious, and we mean anybody who looks like a walking corpse - pale skin, blind eyes, growling - don't approach such a person. Don't let yourself be hurt by it. In case you were hurt, please immediately find the closest hospital. Also if you feel really sick even when you were healthy just a day before, we recommend you to go to hospital too, so the specialized workers can help you in case you were infected. Thank you very much for your cooperation.'_

_I'll give the word to our reporter Hashimoto Takashi, who's right now in the center of events, specifically in Ikebukuro. Takashi, can you hear me?_

_...(crackling, fuss and screams)...-cking zombie almost got me! FUCK! Ah...I'm in the live broadcast? Great. People, can you hear me? There are fucking zombies everywhere, stay away from them if you don't want to turn into one of them, I mean, one bite and you're done...You hear me? One bite and...Hey, Ren, behind you, watch out! Fucking bastards, there's at least 30 of them. Run! RUN! RUUUU-...(beep)_

_...Ah, seems like we lost connection with our team in the city, I apologize for the inconvenience... Eh...Our reporter didn't mean it seriously, there's no such a thing as zombies. It's just a very dangerous virus and quite a lot of people were infected in relatively short time. Though we have received information that the progress on vaccination is going well and there's no reason to exaggerate the situation. We can assure..."  
_  
Shinra couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. Though as much as he was shocked and scared, he was excited too. Blame the crazy scientist part of his personality. You don't see zombies walking around every day, right? And the things he just had a chance to see in TV for a second totally looked like zombies. The government was trying to play it cool like nothing serious was happening, but Shinra has seen many strange things in his life and he could tell a zombie apart from sick person, he was a doctor after all. Without a license, but still. Ah, how he would like to examine one of them...If it worked like in movies...You're bitten, you turn into zombie...Fascinating, isn't it?

Shinra's brain was working on high performance. Even when his clever scientific mind could tell just how bad can epidemics like this end up, he wasn't really that stressed about the mess in the streets, since he was in safety of his home and he was sure the competent offices will take care of the situation quickly and organized, just like when an earthquake or other disaster has occurred. He doesn't really need to even move a finger.

His peace of mind lasted only until he realized he's alone. Celty was out there, doing her delivery job in the streets full of lurking zombies. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead and he pulled out his phone in panic. Sure, fairy was immortal and everything, but with something like this...He couldn't tell whether she is safe, when nobody else was. As he feverishly pressed the buttons to send his beloved woman a message, the door of his apartment opened with loud 'thud' as if someone kicked them out of hinges.

He rushed to take a look and there stood Celty with someone thrown over her shoulder. Shinra's phone fell to the ground as he ran to welcome his dullahan, happy that she's back and obviously all right. But still...

"Celty, are you okay? I saw the news, they say the city is full of zombies... And who's this?"

He wanted to point at the body, but his hand stopped midway in the air when Celty dropped the man on the ground like a sack of potatoes and stood there for a moment, her shoulders visibly shaking as if she was crying. Doctor was speechless when his usually strong soul-mate landed in his arms like a little scarred girl. She wrapped her arms around him so tight that breathing became quite a difficult task for his lungs. But he didn't utter any word of complain, just hugged her and soothingly stroked her back. While he waited till she calms down and explains what's going on, his eyes examined the body on the ground. The man wasn't alive, it was clear. And the only reason that popped out in his mind, why Celty would bring a corpse to their apartment was...

He's looking at a zombie.

* * *

_Thank you for reviews, dear readers~ It really is encouraging to see that someone's really reading the story and what do they think about it. If you have any thoughts in mind, don't be shy and leave a comment._

_Next chapter: I believe everybody is curious what happened to Celty. Or at least I am. Thus we'll look what has shaken our lovely fairy so badly~ (It's Shizu-chan's turn, so I would expect some action. But who knows, the protozoan can always surprise me~)_


	10. Chapter 9

_Author's note: Surprise, surprise, Izaya speaking~ Since I want to update and since Shizu-chan's unavailable at the moment and I forgot to ask for the author's note from him before, I'll simply present his chapter without him. That's for what partners exist, ne~? So, here you go with Celty's chapter. Say bye-bye to peacefulness, action is coming. Have fun~_

* * *

_**Title:** And they lived happily ever after.  
**Rating:** M (gore, adult topics)  
**Pairings:** Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya  
**Disclaimer:** We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...Celty took care of them ^^"_

* * *

**The Day. When the chaos stirs. **

The restless morning was unusually quiet. Celty Sturluson clutched her hands tightly around the handles of her motorcycle, zooming past the streets. She turned around every corner and maze like she had the whole city memorized. By now, she had every pathway familiarized, and every shortcuts noted down. The city was practically hers to explore after having lived here for years. In short, she's been following a pretty accurate map in her head.

Well, if she had one that is.

There weren't any clouds that morning. The moon stared at the city without pause as it was high in the crystal, clear sky, even though it was still morning. The sun didn't rise just yet. The streets of Ikebukuro was cold, creating an atmosphere as if the whole city was freezing. If Shinra was out in days like this, he would probably sought comfort with having a hot drink. Celty would've thought that it was just another beautiful sight of a Winter morning's day, if she wasn't feeling too uneasy.

She just couldn't shake off a funny feeling in her gut. A funny feeling that there was something definitely off about really fishy. And worst of all, the headless woman can't really put her finger on it.

But wait, was the city usually..this..empty?

Usually, the sound of her roaring motorcycle was enough to catch the people's attention as they walk around the city. And if you listened carefully, you could almost hear an echo of a ghostly horse's neigh in the dullahan's wake. People from all ages would get caught in her trance, their eyes following Celty as she rode past them, completely captivated. It's another perk of living in Ikebukuro for years, because everybody came to know the black rider. Some fear, some think it's bullshit, and even some who simply didn't believed it, if they didn't get to see the famous Black Rider with their own eyes.

But there weren't any people. Perhaps everybody was staying home today?

Shrugging, she decided to savour the weekend peace and quiet the city was offering her and make the most of it. She had a number of jobs as a courier to do today, and one of them was to deliver Izaya's package he'd asked her to do some time ago to a client, and another was to deliver a letter to one of the yakuza members in Ikebukuro.

Nobody would suspect that in just a few hours, Ikebukuro will be more of a train wreck than it is now.

Lights was reflected on her yellow helmet as she sped across the highway, her engine growling and her motorcycle gleaming in a ghastly way. Celty expertly flipped her PDA open from her wrist as she carefully followed the navigation to the place where she's supposed to meet her client. The Dullahan was very focused in completing both of her jobs so that she can spend time with Shinra at home.

Soon enough, Celty reached her destination besides an old flat building. She halted to a brake in nothing flat, parking Scooter, her trusty motorcycle just beside the road. Dismounting her bike, Celty took a good and long look at the building before her. The paint was weathered and peeling off in spots, and the slats in the shutters on the upstairs windows were mostly broken out. It mostly looked isolated and grim, with small graffiti on its walls.

She flipped her PDA open in a flash and tapped her feet, her patience running out.

[Meet me in front of the entrance. 10.00 am.]

She read the message her client sent her again and again as she waited, leaning against her bike by now. The shadows which gathered in her helmet spread out in one big cloud of smoke, forming a black, dense ball around the package she was supposed to deliver. It receded back to normal flow once again as she kept the package safe and afloat, the sick feeling in her stomach returning.

''I've been here since half an hour ago. I wonder if he couldn't make it?'' Celty sarcastically wondered to herself, crossing her slender arms.

Of all the nerve..

One last look around the building, and Celty knew that her client wasn't going to make it. Her shadows flared and burst as she grudgingly engulfed the package back to keep it.

Taking one last look at her PDA, she heaved a heavy sigh. Climbing back on her bike, Celty was just about to power the throttle and change to full gear before she felt a breeze brush up against her neck. She glanced at the building warily. The air felt still. Brushing it off, the woman's attention was back to starting her bike up, but then another chill crept up her spine. There was a faint, shuffling noise coming from the building and she didn't like it at all. She looked at it again and knew instantly that something was out of place.

Slowly getting off from her bike, she proceeded to cautiously walk her way towards the cheap flat once more. Her senses sharpened, she strained her hearing once more for the strange noise. For all she could care, it could have been just an injured person or animal. But, something was peculiarly out of place with this one.

'…'

Silence.

There was no sound for a minute or two. Seconds felt like hours passing by as Celty stood there in the unsettling silence. However, just as she was about to give up and leave, the odd sound returned yet once again, only closer this time. Celty was sure of it now, the sound wasn't just any other sound. This one was more… eerily erratic. Her calm composure slowly started to dissipate as she slowly started making her way towards the source of it.

''Haaaaa…''

Wait, what?

''….Grr..''

Sounds of somebody chewing something wet was heard. Celty almost though that it was somebody eating, but eating didn't sound that ridiculously loud.

'H-haaaaaaargh,' moaned an unknown, hoarse voice. Celty stopped in her tracks at the unidentifiable sound coming from right behind the building. It was almost as if it was animal, but it wasn't. She wasn't sure whether to continue or not, but in the end, finally made up her mind to inspect the suspicious situation anyway. She calmly collected back all her cool, as she pushed away the worst of her thoughts to the back of her mind. Walking now with more confidence, but also sure to take in the utmost care, Celty walked briskly to the back of the building. Slowly, but surely, she arrived at her destination. Unfortunately, what she saw there wasn't what she had expected at all.

Gasping unconsciously, Celty froze in place at the sight of the scene before her. She had never seen something like it before in her entire life. Even if she was able to break free from the sight, the image was already embedded deep into her mind. The rotting smell of corpses and fresh blood together radiated throughout the air, causing her head to spin and whirl, liable enough to incline her to fall if she wasn't careful. There, on the ground, was a man with his abdomen exposed, his intestines spread out. His lifeless eyes stared lifelessly at Celty, almost seeming to beg for her aid. But what came as a shock the most, was the other person who was gouging and devouring at his body again and again, almost unable to be satisfied. Its skin was unnaturally discoloured and close to falling apart, the rotting flesh peeled out at almost every possible adjacent of his body. Celty could've sworn she could also see bones sticking out from underneath its skin. Its clothes were ripped apart and tattered, dirty mixtures of red and brown patches can be seen. The revolting sight was enough to make Celty's stomach hurl in disgust.

Immediate fear struck upon her as the grotesque being moved his attention from the dead body to her instead now. Its eyes glinted for a moment as it caught sight of the woman frozen to her place. Letting out a groan, it slowly rose up and limped unsteadily towards her in a hobbling gait. Celty was unable to peel her eyes away from the ghastly features of the creature. Its face was sunken in, and its eyes unfocused, moving around in circumduction. Its jaws were slightly displaced, as drool dripped out from them. Its teeth were uneven, jagged and stained with deep red, fresh from his last meal. On the other hand, its eyes were like that of a predator, eyeing Celty as if she were its next prey.

Celty's heart pounded loudly in her chest, her arrhythmic heart beats boomed in her head. Even though her body wasn't exactly human, she felt complete and utter disgust. Her senses were heightened by now and her body wavered slightly. Her knees slightly shook. Just the sight of the creature made her body unable to move. She wasn't sure to either confront the source of her fears or to flee away from it. Adrenaline was already pumping through her veins by this point, causing her palms to tremble uncontrollably. However, the creature wasn't willing to wait for her answer, as it kept on moving slowly towards her, its eyes dead set against her.

She backed away unfalteringly, her sight still set on the walking dead corpse. What was she to do in such a frightening situation?

Its lips were bloodied and bruised, like it has been chewed off, and its eyes were a greyish, but penetrative colour. She soon realized that it wasn't human. From its clumsy movements, there was no chance that it was a living, normal human.

And if she had a head, only if she had a head, she'd scream.

Feeling desperate, the headless woman had to think fast. Before she let panic take control over her, she calmed her nerves and conjured up her dark scythe from her dense shadows, holding it high above her head. It's sharp, misty edges faded out in the air as she instinctively bent down, in her battle stance.

The creature that was approaching her doesn't seem to be intimidated in any way. As she gripped her weapon hard, Celty swung it round the zombie's neck, effortlessly the skin. She managed to cut a deep wound at its head and neck, as more blood gushed out.

Its body finally fell to the ground with a thud. The bony fingers flinched to and fro before finally becoming limp. Celty stood there and tried her best to regain control from her shaken composure, but the grey eyes from the zombie really burned in the back of her mind.

Everywhere she faced, the zombie's bleeding face flashed in her mind.

She quickly clenched her fist and shook her head, rubbing her neck as if to soothe her fears. Waving her hand, the large scythe immediately vanished into a thin puff of vapour. Her lustered suit shined gleamingly as she hastily bent down next to the laying corpse. Celty's hands hovered over the body, but not really daring to touch it.

Yep, dead.

Finally feeling a tad braver, she turned the zombie over so that it laid on its back and looked at the skin carefully. The skin was darker than usual, with stains of blood here and there.

''So they die when I cut their heads? Is the head the vital point?'' the dullahan wondered to herself and traced her thin fingers across the corpse's neck. She then retracted her hand away like the body was a hot object, reacting to stimulus.

This sounds like a job for Shinra.

No way is she gonna stay there longer. Who knows what else is lurking behind the shadows, ready to pounce on her anytime. So after lifting up the body, she dumped it at the back of her bike frantically. She didn't even bother to carefully adjust the body's position as it drooped down from her bike, just kicking it back up instead. After she tied the no-longer animate creature tightly, Celty started Scooter up and zoomed away, the horse's haunting neigh echoing throughout the streets.

Zombies literally roamed the city. Everything in the video became reality.

She must of missed the news. Seriously, if one of her hobbies were watching interesting TV shows, how could she possibly miss the news this morning? Of course zombies were bloody everywhere! Of course nobody dared to come outside their houses. The disease was spreading like wildfire and the time where it'll consume everybody in the city was near. Celty felt stupid and angry at the same time, and when she couldn't take it anymore, she accelerated her bike on the road.

''Now that I think about it, I was only on the internet yesterday,'' she thought. ''If only Shinra didn't embarrass me like that, then I could see the news on TV! That…! Moron!''

Celty wasn't her usual self that afternoon, she was shaken up badly until her shoulders shook. So afraid that her dark shadows weren't normal and calm as usual. She couldn't even concentrate on the road when she nearly hit a truck that was driving past her. She was too lost in her own train of thought, and when the loud horn with blaring headlights shone on her, she quickly turned her motorcycle to the right, past the driver's window.

As she dodged the incoming truck in slow-motion, the driver on the truck cursed at her and he tried to spit, but luckily she was too fast before he can curse even further. Was he..

Was he on the run to escape the city?

Celty was not in the mood to think about all that. Because all she could think about at this point was what happened to her just several hours ago. Not to mention her complete terror and paranoia at the zombie she tied on her bike behind her.

Blood was splattered on various regions in the city. Windows were broken and public property was busted. The windows on some cars were shattered. More importantly, mindless creatures were scratching the doors of buildings and literally lurked around every nook and cranny of this god-forsaken city. She should've known why there weren't any people playing in the park earlier.

It was the little details that she didn't realize.

Her dread worsened more and more as the zombies followed after her trail. She just _knew _it. Celty stuck to the highway route on the way back to Shinra's, figuring that it was safer, since the zombies gathered a lot on the housing areas. Fortunately, there weren't many zombies as soon as he reached home.

2:00 pm.

It was long after noon as she arrived. Unceremoniously, she dragged the body of her bike as it clumsily fell to the ground. She kicked it a few times to move it to the door. Truly disgusting, the dullahan though.

Well, at least for now she could have Shinra come and take a look at it.

* * *

_Thanks for stopping by to read a chapter~ Reviews are highly appreciated, as usual. It's a really big help and you actually can help the story progress, when you feed us some motivation to write. Especially me...Well, the adventure is still at its beginning, we have a ling time to go~_

_Next chapter: Shinra and Izaya are risking their lives for certain information. And in the end of the day, Shizuo stands behind the door to join this little group of survivors._


	11. Chapter 10

Author's note:

Shizuo-sama: Hello again, people. It's me, Shizuo. I'm publishing the chapter this time~ I could say that the first part of this story is finally completed. Expect to see more 'action' in the next part, we have some surprises in store! Now that the gang's all here, who knows what would happen.. Thanks again for all the reviews. c:

Izaya-sama: Hey there, minna-saaaan~ The update is a little late, but the chapter is much longer than usual, so I'm sure you'll be pleased. It might be a little disturbing for some, but it's horror, so you need to exprect things like that~ Next time there will be a little bit of fanservice, we'll take a break from scary stuff for a moment *chuckles* Enjoy the chapter and look forward the next one~

* * *

**______****Title:** _____And they lived happily ever after._**_____  
_****Rating:** _____M (gore, adult topics)_**_____  
_****Pairings:**_____ Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya_**_____  
_****Disclaimer:** _____We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...one of them's amputated._

* * *

**The Day. When preys turn into hunters.**

Shinra persistently stared at papers in his hands. He checked the data multiply times, but the results didn't change, mockingly withstanding the accusing glare coming from behind his glasses.

"So?" Izaya impatiently peeked into the papers. The truth was there, black on white, but all those graphs and numbers didn't tell him anything so he looked back at Shinra, urging the answer.

"Nothing." Doctor sighed, disappointed. He put the papers on his table and sat into the chair, tiredly pinching the bridge of his nose.  
Izaya blinked as if he didn't understand his friend's words, even when the meaning was obvious. "What do you mean by 'nothing'? You had to learn something... There's a fucking zombie in that room, Shinra!" He pointed at the door of the room, which Shinra used as his laboratory.

Bespectacled man raised a brow at raven, who rarely freaked out like this. But it seemed understandable in this kind of situation, even coming from Izaya. "No, there's just a normal corpse in that room, Izaya. Nothing extraordinary about it. Well, except the fact that it's brutaly beaten up and has several biting wounds from a human...If I didn't know what's going on out there, I would say it was some kind of sick cannibalistic murder." Shinra shrugged when his eyes scanned the papers one more time, as if he hoped it'll change the results miraculously. It didn't though. The body he examined really was just a normal man. His blood, his muscles, his organs, nothing contained the traces of the thing which turned him into walking corpse.

"But... But..." Izaya was lost for the words, something what he didn't really experience before, until the hell broke out in his city. He didn't want to accept the fact that he couldn't get such a crucial info. Why the hell were normal people turning into zombies even when none of the monsters bit them? What if he's going to turn into one of them too? He grabbed Shinra's shoulder and shook him a little. "Shinra, do it again. You're a genius in this field, aren't you? There must be something you've overlooked..."

Shinra just shook his head with a sigh and he gently put off Izaya's hands from himself. "Izaya, calm down, okay? Celty needs a good rest, so keep it down." Celty was the centre of Shinra's universe, he wasn't letting anybody disturb her in the moment of fragility. He said the reproach composed, trying to infect the other man with his calmness. Surprisingly, it seemed to work, because Izaya walked off to sit on the couch, his brows tightly knitted as he bit his bottom lip. Shinra could swear that he heard quiet 'sorry' when informant turned away from him. Doctor watched his back surprised, taken aback and worried at the same time. It really had to be hell outside, when it made Izaya act this way. He knew him for years, but to actually hear an apology from proud and stubborn raven, that was as rare as triple rainbow.

Shinra wasn't outside yet, so he could only imagine what kind of terror Izaya and Celty had to go through. It seemed like informant could relate to fairy's situation, giving her the peace she needed. Celty rested in her room from the moment that Shinra started to examine the body she brought with her. She just came to greet Izaya, when he appeared in the apartment, obviously happy for his survival, even when she didn't really like him not to speak about trusting him. But in that moment of quiet understanding she patted his shoulder as if saying 'good job' and then she disappeared to the safety of her room once again. Shinra then explained the situation to his friend and went back to his experiments, while Izaya shared his experience from the morning till now with him. Both of them waited impatiently for the results and then...All the work seemed to be in vain. The weight of this fact was crushing.

"Cup of tea?"

Izaya almost started to laugh. Almost. What a ridiculous question. What an unbelievable situation, to enjoy a tea as if the world outside wasn't turning into hell. Well, a little bit of normalcy couldn't hurt he thought, so he just plastered his trademark smug expression over his face, pushing the mourning thoughts aside the way only he was able to perform.

"Sure~"

Shinra stood up and disappeared in the kitchen. Izaya leaned against the sofa, resting his head on a back of the couch. As he stared at the ceiling, his smirk fell while pondering what to do now. It was clear they needed info, but at the same time it was obvious that they aren't getting any from zombies. Dead zombies, that is. Informant closed his eyes with exasperated sigh when he realized the only possible solution. He didn't like the plan at all, but his life was at stake either way and it was better to do something than hopelessly sit on the couch, waiting whether he'll turn into a monster the next minute or not. For the sake of his survival and the return of normalcy into his little universe, he'll risk his life in this questionable plan.

While preparing the tea, Shinra was thinking about the very same thing as Izaya. As a scientist he knew just what he needed to obtain some relevant data. His legs were turning into wobbly gelatin just from the mere idea, since he never was one of the bravest people out there, but there were several reasons why he had to take part in that crazy business. Izaya was a sly and dangerous man, but he wouldn't be able to success in this alone and there's no way Shinra would ask his beloved to return into the streets after what she experienced there and what it has done to her. Logically, the only way how to do this was to join forces with Izaya, go down and somehow catch a 'living' zombie. Without ended up bitten, naturally. It was both brave and ridiculous plan, but they didn't have any other choice. Or at least Shinra didn't come up with anything else. "Maybe Izaya...?" Doctor glanced towards his living-room, wondering whether the informant thought of different solution. He poured hot water into two mugs and with steaming tea he returned to his waiting friend. From the gaze he received from Izaya it was immediately clear to him that the other has the very same plan in mind. Without a word they signed a quick deal, agreeing to take a part in it.

"Thanks." Izaya uttered politely, taking his cup from Shinra's hands. When the doctor sat down, Izaya looked at him, softly blowing on the surface of the hot liquid to cool it down. "When?" It was enough for Shinra to sigh and take a hesitant sip. "After we finish the tea." He replied in the very same terse manner and hoped that chamomile tea really has a good effect on a mental state of the person, because he would give up on his collection of scalpels if he momentarily managed to get less nervous.

* * *

They decided to sneak out without letting Celty know about the plan, because she would prohibit it without a doubt. Shinra though didn't want to leave without leaving a note for her. He poured his heart into the words as if he was never going to see her again, writing them down on a piece of paper on the table in living-room. He couldn't leave without a confession of his everlasting love, if anything bad happened to him during this mission. Izaya just rolled his eyes and shaking his head he went to the kitchen to take a look at the knives, since he could use some to replenish his collection. In one of the drawers he found a nylon yarn and duct tape and after a second of pondering just how they are going to get a zombie here without killing it, he put the things into his pockets. Though he was sure it won't be enough as he remembered abnormal strength of the little girl that pulled him to ground so easily.

"Oi, Shinra, aren't you hiding handcuffs, ropes or chains, by any chance somewhere?" Izaya snatched the paper from Shinra's hands when he returned back to the other room. The 'little note' already reminded a light novel and Izaya unceremoniously threw it on the table after taking a look at it, while Shinra whined.

"Heeeey, I was still writing, give it back..."

"I'm sure she'll get the point after first five sentences, Shinra. Seriously, just how sappy you can get in this 'love' business?" Izaya clicked his tongue in contempt before asking his question about the battle equipment once again.

"Second..." Shinra threw one last glance at his unfinished declaration of love and with a sigh he disappeared in his laboratory. When he came back, he held the handcuffs in his hands. Fluffy handcuffs with pink fur. Izaya cocked his brow when his friend handed the kinky equipment to him and Shinra sheepishly shrugged. Stuffing the handcuffs into his pocket, Izaya pondered whether it really wouldn't be better to carry out the plan on his own. But dragging a living zombie into the apartment...He sighed and waved at Shinra, heading to door. Doctor followed him like a nervous puppy with a tail stuck between its legs from fear.

* * *

"You want to use me as a decoy, don't you?" Shinra gasped when Izaya explained him the plan. Informant was peeking from behind the corner and his eyes carefully followed the zombie that was walking towards them down the street. There was just a one on a whole street and it was really near Shinra's apartment too. Situation that they simply had to use.

Izaya glanced at his companion and matter of factly nodded. "Do you have any other plan, Shinra?"

Bespectacled doctor knitted his brows as he thought hard about some strategy where his life wouldn't be in such danger. "Hmmm...Maybe..." He hesitated in proposing to Izaya that they should switch the roles, it was Izaya after all... But informant saw right through him anyway. He patted Shinra's shoulder and smirked. "Shinra. Both of us would end up dead if /I/ was a decoy. And we don't wanna that, ne~?"

He pushed his friend's back and made the doctor stumble out of their hiding onto the street. "My plans always work, don't worry. You're too important, I can't let you being turned into brainless zombie yet, so I'll be sure to save your ass~" With a rather reassuring smile Izaya waved his hand at the other in shooing away manner. "Just do what I've told you, Shinra. See you in a bit." And with that he disappeared behind the corner. Shinra gulped and glanced at a zombie that was still pretty far away from him. With a sigh he tentatively started to walk towards it.

While Shinra went to lure the zombie to the right place, Izaya was doing necessary preparations. He stretched the string between two lamp posts on the street and dragged the bike rack next to it, putting the handcuffs on the chain that was hanging there. He prepared duct tape and waited for his prey to come. He just hoped that Shinra won't trip over the string as first, but Izaya actually managed to have some faith in his rather smart friend. But again, fear makes people do strange things...

His thinking was disturbed by sudden appearance of the said doctor, who ran out of the corner panting harshly while drops of sweat dripped down his forehead. Izaya knew Shinra isn't the most athletic person out there, but he was glad the man in white cloak managed to ran away from the monster. Zombie appeared almost right after Shinra, its teeth loudly clapping as it followed its prey with arms spread in front of it's bloody body. It was a strange whim of destiny that it served them this particular zombie. Izaya immediately recognized familiar colour and design of the high-school uniform, because he had plenty of chances to see while he attended Raijin. Nowadays it was Raira Academy, but the uniforms haven't changed even after all those years. So their prey is...was...male high-school student, not too tall, not too fat. Pretty normal 17 or so years old teenager, whose only special trait was the fact that he has been turned into a zombie. Izaya came to conclusion that he probably wasn't bitten, because he couldn't see any signs of bites on boys body. "Just what we need...Lucky~" The thought flickered through informant's mind and in his observing he almost missed what's actually happening in front of him, but he recovered from his momentarily spacing out right on time.

"Jump!"

Izaya in the very last moment called at Shinra, because upon seeing frightened expression of the young doctor he was pretty sure that the idiot is going to run straight into the trap. Shinra indeed had anything else than Izaya's well prepared plan in his mind in that moment and it was only thanks to his body reflexes that he jumped over the string. His legs reacted to a sudden order pretty much on their own accord. But he at least remembered to stop soon after that, otherwise Izaya would have to deal with the zombie, that tripped over the hardly visible string, alone.

The second before the undead monster faceplanted the asphalt pretty hard, Izaya ran out of his hiding in shady alley and as soon as the student lied on the ground, he cut the string with his knife and in less than two seconds he wrapped it around monster's ankles so it couldn't stand up so easily again. Zombie didn't stop moving, not for even a second, the fall didn't bother it at all. Its face was damaged beyond recognition as it met hard surface of the road, but it didn't stop the deadly teeth chattering. It crawled after Shinra for a second after fall using its hands, but it soon registered fresh blood much nearer and turned its attention to Izaya. But informant was pretty swift, while the speed didn't really belonged into zombie's list of abilities. Izaya without a hesitation ploped down onto zombie's back and grabbed its arms, effectively stopping it in its plan to roll over and bite him. But even when speed wasn't one of its qualities, the strength sure was. As the zombie struggled under him, Izaya knew he's not going to last long. And then...He would rather not think about it.

"Dammit, Shinra! Where are you?!" Raven screamed, while his eyes didn't move from zombie's head, watching carefully just how far it can reach with its poisonous mouth.

"I'm...here...ugh..." Izaya could hear heavy panting accompanied by quick steps and he risked one glance at his companion. Shinra didn't look like he can fight a zombie at all, he looked like on the edge of physical and probably mental collapse too. But info-broker knew he won't win this fight on his own. "Handcuffs, Shinra, handcuffs!" Izaya furiously cocked his head into the direction of the bike rack. "Put it on its right wrist while I'm holding it down!" Doctor seemed to put himself together enough to go and retrieve the chain with handcuffs. Then with few unsure steps he went back to his friend, who was groaning as the zombie wriggled under him just like a fish out of water. Izaya's and zombie's groans created an interesting cacophony of sounds in otherwise awfully quiet street. Shinra hesitantly reached with his hand forward and quickly put a fluffy ring around zombies wrist, just like Izaya told him. The man in fur parka sighed in relief as the squirming was blocked more effectively now. But it still wasn't good enough.

"Oi, Shinra, catch the other hand for me for a second."

Izaya glanced at the other with eyes that didn't permit any negotiations. Doctor sighed and with a few steps he came to the left side of former high-schooler. "I...I'm not sure if..." He stuttered, but Izaya interrupted him mercilessly. "You'll do it Shinra. Now." Izaya didn't have much stamina for a power fight, he always relied more on his clever mind and lithe body that could run like a flash. He could feel his stamina level lowering by every second, the energy stolen by struggling of crazily strong monster under him.

Shinra huffed but he knelt down, pressing the limb to the ground with all of his weight. Izaya stared at the biting head of immobilized zombie and retrieved the duct tape, which was resting on his wrist till then like a thick wristband. After a second of thinking he unzipped his jacket and took it off, holding the clothing in his hand and looking at it as if he was telling goodbye to an old friend. Shinra just raised his brow at him, but let the raven do as he pleased. He wanted to be back at his cozy apartment with his lovely dullahan so badly at the moment...

Shinra's thoughts were interrupted when Izaya threw the black jacket over zombie's head, muffling the sounds that it emitted. But more importantly, he had a good chance to wrap the monster's head with duct tape without getting bitten this way.

"Nice plan." Shinra sounded out approvingly, when Izaya started to wrap the sticky tape around the zombie, especially around the area of mouth.

"Hmm..." It seemed like Izaya wasn't in mood to brag about his superior intellect at the moment, he received the compliment without any smartass comment. After he was finished to his satisfaction, he touched the fur on the sleeve hanging on zombie like a parody of Cocker Spaniel's ear just to let it go in the next moment with a sigh. His beloved jacket was already covered by blood to the point where it was more than slightly disturbing and now it was full of zombie's saliva or whatever it was as well.

"Do you think it's dangerous to ever wear it again?" Izaya looked at Shinra questioningly.

Doctor wasn't even too surprised that Izaya wouldn't mind to wear that jacket again, so he just patted his friend's back.

"I don't know yet, Izaya. We'll see after the tests, but..." He hesitated whether he should voice his opinion, but in the end he did. "I believe it would be better to simply burn it. Just in case."

"I see." Izaya wasn't too taken aback, since he expected something like that. He stood up from the zombie that was now tied rather effectively. He kicked the monster hard into its side and even when his expression didn't show any signs of anger or frustration, Shinra knew better than that. Doctor stood up too, watching his enraged friend cautiously. As he could judge according to strength of Izaya's kick, the raven just destroyed few of zombie's internal organs. Not that it caused any damage to already dead body.

"So, how will we get it back into the lab?" Shinra glanced from Izaya at his new guinea pig that was still squirming, but thankfully it didn't possess intelligence needed for getting rid of the duct tape.

Izaya stared at the body for a second as well, then he looked around as if he was searching for something.

"Wait here."

Before Shinra had a chance to ask what's going on, Izaya disappeared in one of the stores further down the street. "Geez..." The doctor sighed and nervously glanced at the body on the ground, which relentlessly writhed as a worm. He could feel shivers running down his spine but he couldn't really tell whether it was because of fear or scientific excitement. Just in a little while he'll start to examine this fascinating phenomenon...

His fantasies were interrupted when something hard and cold was pressed against his chest. He looked down and saw a pale hand holding solid fire axe of red colour. He followed the hand up to the Izaya's face, raising his brow.

"W-what...?"

"It'll be easier to drag it when it won't struggle that much. We can't afford risking that it'll manage to escape, Shinra. So..."He looked at the monster. "Maybe we could simply cut off its head? It's the only vital part we need, right?"

Shinra pondered about it for a second. "No, I would like to keep spinal chord intact, it can be important. You never know, it's connected with brain, so maybe...

"Well, so we'll simply cut off the legs and arms. It won't die either way and torso with head is enough for your experiments as you've said." Izaya kept a perfect poker face as he talked about his highly disturbing plan, not giving away the weakness which he felt in his stomach.

Shinra instinctively put his hands on the weapon that was handed over to him, but then he looked at it and blinked. With a rather helpless look he looked back at the raven, asking for some explanation. Izaya meanwhile hugged himself in attempt to warm up a bit, because without his warm jacket his body temperature was decreasing rapidly in a cold air of late winter afternoon. He returned Shinra's gaze.

"When I said /we/ cut off the useless parts, I meant /you/ will do it." He explained and tried hard not to chatter his teeth, when his body shuddered because of sudden wave of freezing wind. "And quickly, if you could. I have a bad feeling about this..." His auburn eyes darted to the end of the street, but there was nothing. They were still all alone in the street. For now.

Shinra would ask why he's the one whose supposed to do the dirty work, but one look at half-frozen informant was enough for him to wrap his fingers firmly around the axe and made a step towards the zombie. He was used to cutting the bodies, so it didn't really bother him in the same way as it would any normal person, Izaya included.

"Oi, Izaya, could you catch that arm?" Doctor pointed at free arm and Izaya complied to his request. He came to the zombie and pressed the flailing limb hard against the ground with his foot. He looked away, not really eager to see the scene that was just about to unfold in front of his eyes. Cold and mildly nauseous, his mood couldn't possibly get worse anymore, but it would be really unpleasant to throw up in the middle of the street in front of witness.

Shinra also didn't want to stay out for longer than it was needed, so with a sigh he lifted the axe and let it fall with all of his strength aiming for the area of biceps hidden under the blue blazer. But since he closed his eyes in the last moment, the axe cut off the limb near the elbow and Izaya, sensing the smash awfully close to his leg, turned his head to look at the scene. Shivers ran down his spine when he saw how close the sharp blade landed. He snapped at the other, since his nerves were reaching their limits.

"Fuck, Shinra! You want to cut off my leg or something? Be a little careful for Christ sake!" He angrily kicked the dismembered arm away, taking out his frustration on it as if it was a reason of all of the evil in the world. Then he made a step back, gawking at Shinra,who just rolled his eyes upon the overdramatized act of his companion. Shinra was staying pretty much composed, because he didn't get through as much terror as Izaya today and moreover, his inner twisted scientific self was taking control over his mind.

"I'm not going to cripple you, don't stress, Izaya..." Shinra decided to get over the whole act quickly and he proceeded with slitting the rest of the limbs without a flinch. The road under the zombie was covered in disgusting black precipitated blood that gushed out of the dead body, but it didn't seem like zombie reacted to having its body torn apart. The struggling of it was effectively blocked now, but it still squirmed a little, like some kind of unknown disgusting insect. Shinra threw the axe aside after he was finished, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a back of his hand. The legs were rather hard to cut, so he had used quite a lot of strength to do so.

"So, what now?" Slightly panting he looked at Izaya and noticed that informant is paler than usual.

Izaya looked at the zombies and corners of his mouth dropped slightly in disgust. "There's no way I'm putting my hands on this..." He thought and then got an idea. "Shinra, take off the coat." Shinra tilted his head, but did as he was told, handing his white coat to the other, while he was still wrapped in warm winter sweater. He always wore the coat mostly for the effect.

Izaya spread the white clothing on the ground next to the monster and rolled the guy on it using his leg. Satisfied with the solution, he handed one of the sleeves to Shinra, while he kept the other in his hand. "It'll be easy to drag it like this. We can also carry it up the stairs like a sack." Fortunately for them, the student was pretty slim and without half of his body parts, he's going to be even lighter than before.

"And we should move. Quickly." Izaya announced when he looked over his should when his natural instinct warned him about approaching danger.

There were few clumsily swinging figures visible on the horizon, still pretty far, but they were heading their way.

"Yeah, let's go." Shinra agreed, the slightly cheerful lilt audible in his voice. Izaya couldn't decide whether it's because his friend's is going to be reunited with his beloved fairy or because he got a nice sample for himself and he's going to 'fangirl' over it for the rest of the day.

And thus, dragging the captured zombie with them, they moved towards the safety of Shinra's apartment.

* * *

A thud. Somebody coughed. Furniture sounded like somebody knocked them over. Soon, the door unlocked and Shinra opened the door, his glasses seemed blurry and his hair dishevelled.

''Shizuo!'' the doctor chirped, smiling apologetically. He kept turning back to have a look at someone in the apartment, but Shizuo snapped his fingers in front of Shinra's face, which made the underground doctor wince.

''Shinra. What the fuck is happening?'' he demanded. ''Have you seen this city lately?''

''Quick. Get in..''Shinra shook his head and pulled the other man's hand. He closed the door, locking back the series of locks which ran vertically down the door. Freshly installed, Shizuo thought. ''C'mon,'' the doctor called out and went inside.

Shizuo took off his shoes and placed them at the side. Inside the apartment, the place looked pretty clean and orderly. Coffee was at the table, which made Shizuo lick his chapped lips in thirst.

''Shinra. What the hell is happening.'' Shizuo questioned, eyes penetrating at the doctor as he paced the floor with the kind of a nervous sway to him. Along the room, Celty started to emerge from the hallway and her chest heaved as soon as she saw Shizuo. If headless faeries could sigh with relief, then she certainly did.

''Zombies.'' Shinra made a sour face and fiddled with the little pen he had in his fingers. Shizuo hadn't paid much attention to it, but it seemed like he was writing some stuff down earlier.

''Lots of them. Everybody's turning into zombies..'' he sighed. His tone was bright and cheerful, which creeped Shizuo up a bit. It seemed like Shinra was enjoying it, like a scientist excited to gather some samples or dissecting a body. Pushing up his glasses, Shinra went to drink his coffee quickly so as to avoid answering anymore questions.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. It was pretty obvious that everyone's turning into zombies. The big question was how.


	12. Chapter 11

_Author's note:_

_Izaya-sama: Hello, readers~ It took a while to reach this point, but we're finally bringing the chapter on which we've worked together, me and Shizu-chan. And what a chapter it is! Hehe~ I hope you'll have at least as much fun reading it, as we enjoyed writing it. And for the sake of keeping the promise of little fanservice, the chapter got really long. But somehow I think that you don't really mind that *laughs* _

_Shizuo-sama: It was actually very, very fun to write this chapter, haha. Enjoy. Let us know what you think by a review._

* * *

_****______**Title:** ______And they lived happily ever after._**_____  
_****Rating:** _____M (gore, adult topics)_**_____  
_****Pairings:**_____ Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya_**_____  
_****Disclaimer:** _____We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...yuck. Gross. Could you imagine storing a zombie in house during a long hot summer? No way. Yada. I don't want it. Shoo, zombie, shoo~_

* * *

**The Day. When 'crazy' isn't descriptive enough for the situation.**

As far as keeping his cool goes for Heiwajima Shizuo, it…doesn't go so far. In fact, it's not exactly one of his strong points. He's violent - that he couldn't deny. But despite being impulsive and wildly ferocious at some times, he was only violent when provoked. This 'violence' not only shed an obvious fear among the citizens of the city, but it also managed to get Izaya's clear attention for the blonde, though the fascination was rather understandable. Sometimes, when left alone, Izaya quickly found out that Shizuo was a surprisingly quiet man, being true to his morals. He only spoke when spoken to, polite when talking to his friends and obedient when working. Speaking to anyone he held close to him, Shizuo's expression was soft. His values were so clearly apparent in their graceful simplicity that the great Orihara Izaya felt sick just thinking about how he couldn't read him at all.

It was also very rare for Izaya to be able to predict Shizuo's actions. Every decision made by the blonde felt completely alien to him. And even though Shizuo was a hot-headed man, Izaya was quick to find out that he puts his close friends and family ahead of him more than anything. (Much to Izaya's annoyance/confusion, of course.)

Though deep down, Izaya just wouldn't want to acknowledge his infatuation with the beast. Shizuo was one of the most humane of humans he'd ever come across. Underneath the 'monster' image, Shizuo was a gentle creature, who just didn't know how to control his actions.

More importantly, Shizuo would not cause trouble unless someone really annoyed him, or at least picked on him.

Naturally, 'being picked on' usually came from the little flea who was responsible countless times for Shizuo's angry rampage.

Which was exactly why both Shinra and Celty were afraid of keeping Fortissimo of 'Bukuro in their living room for too long, especially since the informant was at the back enjoying a shower.

Izaya craved for a hot shower like never before when they finally dragged the zombie into Shinra's lab. He excused himself, leaving the room when Shinra (with glistening eyes) already observed his new sample. And before Izaya disappeared in the bathroom, he explained the current situation to the troubled fairy that attacked him with a bunch of questions in the living room.

He was rather terse in his talking, which gave a clear signal to Celty that he wasn't in the mood for a long talk right now. After he more or less answered all of her questions, he closed the door to the bathroom behind himself and immediately got rid of all of his clothes, which were soaked in blood and sweat. As he looked at the dirty and stinking pile of black on the floor, he shuddered in disgust and felt an immense urge to set it on fire.

Instead, he threw it into the washing machine and finally made his way into the shower. When the stream of hot water fell on his skin, he sighed in pleasure as all of the dirt was washed away together with a good portion of his bad mood. As his tired muscles nicely relaxed, he forgot for a moment about the world and zombies and everything else, just indulging himself in the comfortable warmness of the shower.

Celty stood in front on the window, gazing out at the fierce reality occurring in Ikebukuro. Zombies were gathered at one area not far from the apartment building, probably feasting on someone. When she looked closer, she soon was able to see that three of the zombies were feeding on what seemed like…a dismembered arm?

On the verge of freaking out, there were some aggressive and loud clinks coming from the locks at the door as she finished making sure that they're all intact and the windows were all closed.

Meanwhile, Shinra nervously sipped his coffee, while his mind focused on so many things at the same time that it felt like it'll either implode or explode any second.

His eyes flickered between the papers and messily scattered notes next to him, his new guest who was penetrating him with a rather intense glare, his lovely dullahan who was busy making sure their apartment's safe from outside threats, the door to his operating room where the massacred body of the maimed zombie was stored waiting for him and more of his experiments and lastly another door which, for now, successfully hid the presence of another person in this apartment. Shinra didn't even want to imagine what's going to happen when Izaya comes out and meets Shizuo right here in front of his eyes, but as experience collected over the years taught him, it wasn't going to be anything pleasant. His imagination provided him rather vivid images of his destroyed apartment, since similar situation occurred many times already in the past. And now, when both were obviously stressed out more than any other time...

After calming herself for the hundredth time, Celty approached the blonde. To keep her good friend to stay put in the room, (and to avoid Shizuo forcing out answers from Shinra) Celty started to pat the blonde's back to soothe him.

''Hmm? Ahh..Celty.''

The blonde acknowledged the dullahan as she sat next to him on the couch. All his questions for Shinra were spared for later, since Shizuo was actually feeling pretty tired after what he's been through today. Turning to Shinra, he wondered if he should at least ask why the doctor's looked like he hasn't slept for _days, _but was cut short when Celty started to type on her PDA.

**[Are you alright? Your forehead..]**

Honey eyes blinked several times at her before a frown suffused his face. Shizuo's gaze was locked to the floor as his arm was draped at the couch. He didn't realize that he managed to get an ugly bruise on his forehead, but heck. There was no blood, so it should be fine. He really wanted to tell Celty that the situation didn't bothered him at all, but it seemed impossible for any human to feel fine just hours after the outbreak.

''I'm…not okay...''

Shizuo replied with blatant honesty, while rubbing his sleeve over his forehead as he felt numb throbbing there. The disturbing image of Tom limping towards him appeared in his mind again. Stopping the overwhelming feeling of dread, Shizuo tried to put on his bravest smile at her.

Celty scooted closer. Her finger tips trembled as she typed her reply.

**[It's okay, Shizuo. We're safe here. Do you want me to fix something up for you to eat? Do you want me to get you a cold ice pack?]**

He looked over and sighed, sitting up and scratching the back of his head.

''Nah, it's fine.'' The smile that was on his lips appeared melancholic, somehow.

Despite his attempt not to trouble her, Celty got up anyway and headed to the kitchen. As she went along the hallway, the agitated woman made _sure _Izaya was still in the shower, just so that he wouldn't come out and caused wrecking of the whole apartment. The last time these two were together in their place, Shizuo had lifted the newly-bought fridge and threatened to throw it at raven. She wasn't gonna let it happen again.

Shizuo sat on the couch and shook his head, disappointed at himself for what happened today. While Shinra continued to ungracefully stand there looking shitty as fuck, a low growl coming from Shizuo startled the doctor. Although the underground doctor had annoyingly told him that the city was infected with those_ beings_, it still wasn't enough to satisfy his curiosity.

''Shinra, how long are we gonna stand here and do nothing?'' He chided and sat up on couch, before a sharp pain hit him in his head. He bit his lip to prevent the groan from coming out in his throat and knitted his eyebrows. All the punching and kicking from earlier really tired him down.

"Staying here is the best choice we have, for now, Shizuo. Or would you rather go outside?" Shinra sighed as he looked at the blonde and raised his brow when he saw Shizuo's tired expression. "So the situation out is so bad, eh? When it managed to do this even to Shizuo, it must be really hell," Shinra thought, grateful that his stay outside didn't last more than one hour. "I suppose not." He answered his own question, when Shizuo didn't state his opinion, just kept quietly staring at nothing in particular. "And it's not like we do nothing..." Shinra started, but didn't find right words to continue, since he didn't want to mention the informant and the whole action with the zombie. Seeing that Shizuo was successfully distracted with something in his mind, judging from the blonde's frowned expression as he was spacing out, Shinra quietly thanked to gods that he can leave the explanation for later. Since his mind was completely occupied by the zombie, experiments and questions that needed to be answered, Shinra didn't even register that he should be worried about the physical and mental state of his friend. He used the chance to look into the results of the experiments once again.

At least his softer 'second-half' wasn't so oblivious to Shizuo's frame of mind. Once Celty came back with an ice pack, she felt a strong tightening in her chest, realizing that Shizuo was probably injured more than he could handle. As she rushed to the blonde's side, she placed the ice pack on his head and held it there. The man was quiet for several seconds before he held the ice pack himself, Celty letting it loose from her hands.

It's not as if he was injured physically, but rather, he was hurt mentally. Shizuo was still in disbelief that the disease spread throughout the city, taking the lives of innocent people.

And the PDA was once again, shoved in his face.

**[Take it easy. I'm..]**

Celty then frantically erased the word and replaced it with another.

**[_We're_, glad that you're alive.]**

Celty was quite sure she was speaking for her and Shinra, not so much about Izaya. She tried to buy more time to keep him here, but soon the doctor glanced at her with an expression that, if could be heard, was a scream. Shinra was basically silent screaming mentally as he heard that Izaya's done with his shower.

In the bathroom, when some loud noises from behind the door (Shizuo's growls at Shinra who stuttered ridiculously) brought Izaya back to reality, he realized he has been in the shower for a good half an hour if not more, because the skin on his fingertips was completely wrinkled. He stopped the water and decided to take a look on what's going on in the apartment. He didn't like the sneeze that escaped him nor the mild fatigue that he could feel as he went out.

Shinra sweated nervously. "They'll try to kill each other on the spot, won't they? Ah, I should do something to stop it...But I don't have time to play a babysitter here, so many experiments, so little time. Maybe I could simply disappear into the lab and let the situation over here develop however it'll go...But Celty will be here with those two nuts, right? I can't push dealing with them on her, they came here to seek _me _after all...Ah, but the experiments..." Shinra's worries swirled around in a vicious circle and sooner than he could jump to any conclusion, the door on the other side of the room opened and a certain info-broker came out of there, wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe, drying his hair with a towel.

Shizuo, fortunately, was actually still frowning at Shinra as he stayed there with the ice pack on his head. He didn't notice until he felt that everybody was looking at the figure that emerged from the bathroom.

"Oi, what's with that ruckus over here, Shin...ra?"Izaya asked, breaking the air between them.

And there, right in front of Shizuo's eyes, stood the flea in all his showery glory.

Izaya made a little pause from his question as his eyes stopped at Shizuo, letting the towel fall to ground. For a second, he stared at the blonde dumbfounded, his heartbeat rising in excitement, but he immediately plastered the usual mask over his face, not giving out any signs of joy over seeing the other safe and sound.

''Iiizaaaayaaaa-kunn!''Shizuo dragged his name and stood up from his seat, the ice pack falling to the floor.

"Ara, ara~ Seems like even zombies aren't enough to bring down a monster like you, Shizu-chan. How scaaaary~" Izaya snickered teasingly, effectively covering just how worn-out he is.

''The hell flea! Why are you here?'' Shizuo fired back.

Celty shook lazily.

''History repeats itself..'' She thought to herself, practically getting ready to stand up and guard the kitchen so that Shizuo wouldn't lift the fridge up and hurl it at the informant.

"I could ask you the very same question, Shizu-chan." With cautious eyes, Izaya watched Shizuo's reaction while he was trying to come up with any plan.

_"_But plans never worked when it came to Shizu-chan..._"_ The raven reminded himself inwardly with a sigh. He glanced at Shinra, uttering another teasing remark. "Seriously, how could you let in the monster behind our barricade, Shinra? Or are you going to feed our lovely zombie with Shizu-chan? Honestly, I'm curious too, whether he is resistant or not~"Izaya sniggered.

Shinra let out a loud sigh.

"That's not nice, Izaya-kun."

Izaya just gave him an amused look as if saying 'and I should care because...?'

That earned another sigh from the young doctor and he fixed the glasses on the bridge of his nose before he, with a serious expression, looked at all the other three people in the room, one by one.

"C'mon, can't we all just try to get along while we're stuck in this apartment together? Look, we're still alive, which is obviously quite lucky considering the situation, so we should try to maintain this state as long as possible. That means...You two," he pointed at Izaya and Shizuo with his forefingers. "..no killing each other, no destroying _my _property, no smartass remarks and so on."

''Shut the fuck up, Shinra. I get it.'' Shizuo hissed, keeping his unwavering glare at Izaya in askance.

The ex-bartender gritted his teeth. As infuriating as it was to follow what Shinra said and avoid any fights with Izaya, his suggestion proved a point. The world outside was already a mess as it is; and the zombies wandering around the city, made him quite sure that they'll need eachother's company. It remained only to stick together, all four of them, and Shizuo slumped down on the couch back with his frown deepening.

Presently forth came Celty, who picked up the ice pack and gave it back to the blonde man. Grumbling inaudibly to himself, Shizuo closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself down, forgetting the image of Izaya with his patronizing smile. He grabbed the pack again and placed it on his forehead.

Doing the peacemaker between two sworn enemies, it sure cost Shinra a lot of bravery. But even despite his passionate speech, he didn't really expect it to have any effect, so he was almost as surprised as Izaya, when Shizuo quite obediently sat down back onto the sofa.

Though for the informant this turn of events was beyond belief and his smug smirk was replaced by pure surprise, his brows raised and lips slightly parted as he stared at Shizuo agape. He couldn't wrap his mind around the situation...Shizu-chan's ignoring him? How's that even possible?

"Oi, Shinra, I've this suspicion that Shizu-chan was replaced by some alien." Izaya snickered as he could see Celty shivered at the idea, but his efforts to anger the blonde seemed completely futile.

Shizuo just rolled his eyes at Izaya's remark. He was gonna keep his cool no matter what.

"Look, Izaya, could you just..." Shinra was about to say 'shut up' or something along the line, but in that moment a loud alarm resonated in the apartment and the doctor jumped to his feet. "Results from the experiment! Let me check them and I'll tell you everything. Give me ten minutes." With that much as a quick explanation, Shinra ran to the lab, excitement making him almost as fast as Izaya was during his chases with Shizuo. For a klutz like Shinra, it was a pretty fascinating fact.

When Shinra disappeared, the room was filled with an awkward silence. Izaya still couldn't grasp why Shizuo just sat there and refused to throw the couch at him, but the blonde didn't seem like he's going to move anytime soon.

It was a good thing since Shizuo was doing a nice job at controlling his nerves so that he wouldn't destroy the apartment. Just for that day, he decided to put aside his hatred for Izaya. So he did the opposite of what he used to do in Izaya's presence. For once, he was completely and unwaveringly ignoring his arch-enemy.

Feeling Izaya's eyes burn on him, he slowly voiced out. ''I'm not doing this for you, flea.'' Shizuo grumbled scornfully. He's going to resist the urge to kill Izaya. He's doing this for Celty and Shinra. That was it. And he didn't want to cause any more unnecessary problems, as the city was already neck-deep in chaos.

Izaya was left speechless by Shizuo's attitude. Penetrating the other with his auburn eyes, he noticed that Shizuo looked pretty tired. The informant wondered just what has happened to him during this crazy day, but even when curiosity was eating him alive, he couldn't just simply start a friendly chitchat with Shizu-chan, could he? As he stood there quite confused, he realized that he's still wearing only a bathrobe, so he turned to Celty and asked her if she could lend him some of Shinra's clothes. When Shizuo's going to ignore him, he's going to ignore him as well. At least until he'll find out what's going through that protozoan's mind. Or at least until he'll learn why people turn into zombies. That's why he came here after all.

Izaya followed the fairy into the bedroom and took the clothes that she handed over to him. Then he disappeared in the bathroom again.

* * *

Shinra stared at the papers, nodding to himself as he read through the data. He wasn't an informant like Izaya, but when it came to science, he could put the pieces of information together just as well as the raven. "We're screwed..." He breathed out quietly.

When Izaya came back to the living-room, Shinra already sat in the armchair with a wad of papers on his knees. He looked pretty serious and the atmosphere there was almost suffocating. Izaya glanced at everybody before he took a seat next to the fairy, who was sitting next to Shizuo on the couch. "Did I miss anything?" He chirped in his usual carefree manner.

Shinra just shook his head, while the other two ignored his presence rather effectively. Izaya threw one leg over the other and leaned into the sofa, eager to hear anything that Shinra's about to tell them.

Feeling three pairs of curious eyes on him (yes, he could feel Celty's eyes even when she didn't really have any), Shinra took a deep breath. "It all started three days ago..."

He saw Izaya already opening his mouth, and stopped him by a gesture of his hand sooner than the informant had the chance to interrupt him. "I'll explain it from the beginning, so it'll be clear to _everybody,_" he continued. But Shinra could know it's impossible to silence Izaya, of all people.

"Sure, go ahead with your lesson for neanderthals~" Izaya waved his hand at the doctor, while throwing a smirk at Shizuo from behind the fairy's back, obviously referring to him. He was disappointed when he didn't receive the reaction he expected.

Instead of a snarl, or heavy objects being thrown around, Shizuo glared daggers at him as if asking him to shut up. When their eyes aligned, Shizuo's eyes were so dark that it was enough to make Izaya frown. Celty, who noticed the tension between the two men, tapped on her gadget again and held it up to Shizuo.

**[ Don't let him get the best of you, Shizuo. ] **

''Tsk, I won't.'' he replied to Celty and crossed his arms. Then, the woman turned to Izaya and showed him a new message.

**[ And you, quit pushing his buttons. ]**

Regardless, the air in the room was getting thicker. To Celty, it was strange being in a room with two people who really detest each other. Even if a temporary truce was established for the time being, it still felt...dangerous. Like a fight could break out any time.

Izaya just clicked his tongue at fairy and shifted his eyes back to the blonde. "What the hell, Shizu-chan... Is the reality truly on the edge of doom, when you're able to throw our bond away so easily?" He pondered for a second, but he focused back at Shinra's explanation, when Celty kept her phone back.

Shinra coughed once they were finally gonna listen to him. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Celty, but it's without a doubt that these monsters were created thanks to your cells, the experiment confirmed it..." he sounded out.

Izaya was getting really upset over hearing info, which he already knew from the very beginning and he let the others know about it by his loud whining. "Shinra, for Christ's sake, could you finally get to the point? _Why_ are people turning into zombies, when they are not bitten?"

Shizuo looked at Shinra and scrunched his brows, completely cancelling out Izaya's outburst. ''Celty's cells? What does she have anything to do with the zombies? What the fuck are you saying?'' he asked. Annoyed, Celty extended her hand over the two, trying to convey that she's trying to listen and didn't want them to interrupt the underground doctor while he's trying to speak.

Shinra threw defeated look at them. He has to tell his beloved the truth, right? About keeping the terrible secret from her for years...But just as he was about to open his mouth, he got an idea. "From Izaya's information, Yagiri Pharmaceuticals experimented with Celty's cells for a few years now, trying to achieve immortality. And according to that video that everybody could see...They've created _something_." He finished with deep sigh. He couldn't tell Celty the truth. That he knew about everything from the very beginning. He was too much of coward for that. He feared so much that she would never forgive him and leave him, that he was willing to continue keeping secrets away from her.

Shizuo was too stunned by Shinra's speech, so all he did was thinking: "What the hell? How did they get her cells?" Obviously missing fairy's head didn't pop in his mind at all. Celty on the other side realized very well from where those scientists could obtain the mysterious material. There was just one possibility. She tightly clenched her fists and 'looked' at informant with quiet ire obvious from her posture, since the man obviously knew some information about her head, which he kept away from her.

"And thus we're finally getting to _that_ question." Shinra also turned his attention to Izaya, who was impatiently tapping his foot against the floor, arms crossed over his chest and expression of utter annoyance plastered over his face. "It's a droplet infection."

Those few words were enough for Izaya to stop looking bored to death. Cold shivers ran down his spine when he realized just what that means. But to make it clear for everybody, Shinra continued, looking pretty gloomy. "The transmission works thanks to droplets of moisture expelled from the upper respiratory tract through sneezing or coughing. That's the most effective way of how illnesses are spread among masses. When a person sneezes, the droplets full of pathogenic microbes fly into a radius of a few meters. One sneeze in the room and everybody can be infected..."

The doctor sighed and took off his glasses to clean them with his white coat, one of his nervous habits. "But pretty much any contact with body liquids of an infected person, let's say drinking from the same glass or kissing, can make you infected too. While nobody actually knows whether he or she's infected or not until the symptoms of the sickness appears...We can guess, according to data we have, that incubation period of this 'zombie virus' is around 3 days. And according the current situation outside...It's the most contagious disease I've ever seen." Shinra put glasses back on his nose and solemnly looked at all of his three listeners, but he couldn't find the strength to say the next cruel fact aloud.

Izaya did it for him. "It means that anybody from us can be infected already..." He mused aloud.

All of them let the information slowly sink in their minds. Shizuo glanced around the room wearily, and Celty was just too devastated after she learned that the zombies were the results of her own cells, rendering her silent. She wasn't human herself, and she felt like she was unleashing a virus to mankind. Like a parasite.

The blond gulped. He was out of town for a few hours..there could be large chance that he was unconsciously infected too. Well, he fought a lot of the zombies when he made his way over here. Shizuo was also close to Tom's chest just before he turned into one of _them. _Could it be that..he might turn into a zombie too? Fidgeting with his thumbs, the anxiety intensified inside him at something so distasteful.

Izaya could sense something bugging him in the back of his mind. He tried to remember just what it could be, but when the info appeared clearly in his mind, he would give up on his luxurious apartment entirely, so that he could erase that memory from his mind. "Yesterday...I was having lunch with Shiki-san..." He pronounced aloud without thinking, his mind was too occupied by trying to remember whether there was a slightest chance that he got infected from his yakuza employer. He didn't remember any sneeze or cough from the man, but they spent almost an hour talking together, the barrier between them was only a meter wide table...

Shinra questioningly tilted head at informant, puzzled by his strange confession. But judging from Izaya's expression, it had to mean something and that something had to be pretty bad. "Izaya?"

Curious, Shizuo also looked at him and listened to what he's got to say.

The raven looked at Shinra with his orbs widening in terror. "He turned into zombie today...I heard it through the phone..." He was almost unable to speak as his throat constricted from fear. Is he going to turn into one of those brainless monsters? For real? Him? The one who was supposed to become a god? This day was pure hell for him. He went through so many stressful situations, he lost control over his city and now it seemed like he even lost control over his own life. Adding the fatigue he felt for a while now to it, the whole situation was just to much for him to keep his usual, composed façade. He jumped off the couch and looked around like panicked animal.

He could feel everybody's eyes burning into him and except being scared shitless, the wave of anger washed over him as well. "Don't stare at me like if I were a plague!" He snapped at them and Shinra looked aside, feeling guilty. But what pissed off Izaya the most was Shizuo's glare. The blonde always called him by some insects names, but today it was first time that Izaya felt like the other was looking at him as if he was indeed some disgusting bug.

''Hell, flea...''

Izaya's mind was capable of working in just about any way just not rationally in that moment. "Don't look at me like that, Shizu-chan. You can hate me all you want, but don't give me that look full of disdain and pity. I can't stand that...Not from you..." The thoughts swirled in his mind as he closed the distance between him and Shizuo sooner than anybody had a chance to do anything. Shizuo's eyes widened as he realized their proximity as everything happened so fast.

''Hey..!''

Izaya cupped blonde's face in his hands and leaned down. Before he even realized what he's doing, he pressed his lips on Shizuo's. It was an act of pure desperation, a ferocious kiss full of hidden rage. As Shizuo's lips slightly parted from shock, Izaya seized the chance without hesitation and slipped his tongue inside blonde's mouth, not minding the danger of getting hard bite. He didn't think about anything else than getting this man on the same level as he was. It always was like that for him. Nobody's else existence has mattered, just his and Shizu-chan's.

Celty was mortified. If thoughts of these two being together flipped her out, this scene was on a whole new scale. These two are actually _kissing_. In front of her.

With a sudden satisfaction that soothingly flooded his body and mind, Izaya pulled away and with a viscous smirk he stared right into Shizuo's eyes.

Like always, Shizuo was shocked and his face grew red with anger. ''Izayaa-!''

But it didn't matter to raven whether he just broke temporary truce or whatever. If he was in the risk of turning into a zombie, Izaya's gonna drag the beast down with him.

"If I'm done...then you are too, Shizu-chan."

* * *

_Thanks a looot for reading the story up to this point. Did you like the chapter? Is there anything you feel like sharing? Maybe some praising words, maybe some constructive criticism? Leave a review~ Authors will be thrilled to write more quickly *snickers*_

_Next chapter: W__hat are our heroes going to do now? You'll see how will they put up with each other in oppressive atmosphere that reigns in Shinra's apartment. And even when living together can be a hell, what the government has in store for them can end up being even worse... _


End file.
